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AUTHOR: 


CADY,  HARRIETTE 

EMILIE 


TITLE: 


LESSONS  IN  TRUTH,  A 
COURSE  OF  TWELVE  . 


PLACE: 


KANSAS  CITY 


DA  TE : 


1919 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


Master  Negative  # 


BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


938.99 
C115 


Cady,  Harriette  Emilie,  1848-1941. 

Lessons  in  truth,  a  course  of  twelve  lessons  in  practical 
Christianity,  by  H.  Emilie  Cady  ...  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Unity 
school  of  Christianity,  1920.  19 19  . 

162  p.,  1 1.,  X  p.    20"      ( On  cover:  Unity  library.    Vol.  i) 


I.  Unity  school  of  Christianity,  Kansas  City.  Mo.    ii.  Title. 


Library  of  Congress 


22-0184  Revlsed/y 


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THE  LIBRARIES 


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LESSONS  IN  TRUTH 


A  Course  of  Twelve  Lessons  in 
Practical  Christianity 


■Y 


H.  EMILIE  CADY 


AUTHOR    OF 

'finding    the    CHRIST    IN    OURSELVES;"    "ONENESS    WITH    GOD,' 

AND   "neither  do   I   CONDEMN   THEE;"   "gOD's   HAND," 

AND  "loose  him  AND  LET  HIM  GO;"  AND 

"trusting  and  resting." 


>        •      <        • 


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UNITY    SCHOOL   OF    CHRISTIANITY 

Kansas  City,  Missouri 

1919 


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CONTENTS 

1    ^ 

LESSON 

PACE 

I 

I. 

Statement  of  Being     .      .      .      . 

5 

1 

II. 

Thinking         

13 

1 

III. 

Denials 

28 

1 

IV. 

Affirmations 

43 

I 

V. 

Faith          

54 

1 

VI. 

Definition  of  Terms  Used 

67 

1 

VII. 

Spiritual  Understanding    . 

80 

1 

VIII. 

Secret  Place  of  the  Most  High 

94 

1 

IX. 

Finding  the  Secret  Place 

.     108 

1 

X. 

Spiritual   Gifts       .... 

.     124 

1 

XI. 

Unity  of  the  Spirit     . 

.     136 

I 

XII. 

Bondage  or  Liberty,  Which? 

.     150 

STATEMENT  OF  BEING 

WHO  AND  WHAT  GOD  IS— WHO  AND  WHAT 

MAN  IS 

FIRST  LESSON 

[In  entering  upon  this  course  of  instruction  let  each 
one,  as  far  as  possible,  lay  aside  for  the  time  being  all  previ- 
ous theories  and  beliefs.  By  so  doing  you  will  be  saved  the 
trouble  of  trying  all  the  way  through  the  course  to  force 
"new  wine  into  old  bottles."  If  there  is  anything  as  we  pro- 
ceed which  you  do  not  understand  or  agree  with,  just  let  it 
lie  passively  in  your  mind  until  you  receive  the  entire  course, 
for  many  statements  which  would  naturally  arouse  ants^o- 
nism  and  discussion  will  be  clear  and  easily  accepted  a  little 
further  on.  After  the  course  is  completed,  if  you  wish  to 
return  to  your  old  beliefs  and  ways  of  living,  you  are  at 
perfect  liberty  to  do  so.  But  for  the  time  being,  be  willing 
to  become  as  little  children;  for,  said  a  Master  in  spiritual 
things,  "Elxcept  ye  become  as  little  children  ye  can  in  no 
wise  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  If  at  times  there  seems 
to  be  repetition,  please  remember  that  these  are  lessons,  not 
lectures.] 

When  Jesus  was  talking  with  the  Samaritan 
woman  at  the  well,  he  said  to  her,  "God  is  Spirit ; 
and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth."  He  did  not  say,  God  is  a  Spirit. 
The  article  a,  italicized  as  it  is  in  our  Bibles,  has 
been  interpolated  by  translators.    To  say  "a  spirit" 


First  Lesson 


Statement  of  Being 


would  be  implying  the  existence  of  more  than  one 
spirit.    Jesus  in  his  statement  did  not  do  this. 

Webster  in  his  definition  of  Spirit  says,  "Spirit 
is  life  or  intelligence  conceived  of  entirely  apart  from 
physical  embodiment.  It  is  vital  essence,  force,  en- 
ergy, as  distinct  from  matter." 

God,  then,  is  not,  as  many  of  us  have  been 
taught  to  believe,  a  big  personage  or  man  residing 
somewhere  in  a  beautiful  region  in  the  sky  called 
"heaven,"  where  good  people  go  when  they  die  and 
see  him  clothed  with  ineffable  glory ;  nor  is  he  a  stem, 
angry  judge  only  waiting  an  opportunity  somewhere 
to  punish  bad  people  who  have  failed  to  live  a  per- 
fect life  here. 

God  is  Spirit,  or  the  Creative  energy  which  is 
the  cause  of  all  visible  things.  God  as  Spirit  is  the  in- 
visible life  and  intelligence  (according  to  Webster's 
definition  of  Spirit)  which  underlies  all  physical 
things.  There  could  be  no  body,  or  visible  part,  to 
anything  unless  there  was  first  Spirit  as  creative  cause. 

God  is  not  a  being  or  person  having  life,  intelli- 
gence, love,  power.  God  is  that  invisible,  intangible, 
but  very  real  something  we  call  Life.  God  is  perfect 
Love  and  infinite  Power.  God  is  the  sum  total  of 
these  combined,  the  sum  total  of  all  good,  whether 
manifested  or  unexpressed. 


\ 


ii 


There  is  but  one  God  in  the  universe,  but  one 
source  of  all  different  forms  of  life  or  intelligence 
we  see,  whether  they  be  man,  animal,  tree  or  rock. 

God  is  Spirit.  We  cannot  see  Spirit  with  these 
fleshly  eyes ;  but  when  we  clothe  ourselves  with  the 
spiritual  body,  then  Spirit  is  visible  or  manifest  and 
we  recognize  it.  You  do  not  see  the  living,  thinking 
"me"  when  you  look  at  my  body.  You  see  only 
the  form  through  which  I  am  manifesting. 

God  is  Love.  We  cannot  see  love,  nor  grasp 
any  comprehension  of  what  love  is,  except  as  love  is 
clothed  with  a  body.  All  the  love  there  is  in  the 
universe  is  God.  The  love  between  husband  and 
wife,  between  parents  and  children,  is  just  the  least 
little  bit  of  God  as  pushed  forth  through  visible  form 
into  manifestation.  A  mother's  love,  so  infinitely 
tender,  so  unfailing,  is  the  same  love,  only  mani- 
fested in  greater  degree  through  the  mother. 

God  is  Wisdom  or  Intelligence.  All  the  wis- 
dom or  intelligence  we  see  in  the  universe  is  God — is 
wisdom  projected  through  a  visible  form.  To  edu- 
cate (from  educere,  to  lead  forth)  never  means  to 
force  into  from  the  outside,  but  always  means  to 
draw  out  from  within  something  already  existing 
there,  God  as  infinite  wisdom  or  intelligence  lives 
within  every  human  being,  only  waiting  to  be  led 


8 


First  Lesson 


forth  or  drawn  out  into  manifestation.  This  is  true 
education. 

Heretofore  we  have  sought  knowledge  and  help 
from  outside  sources,  not  knowing  that  the  source 
of  all  knowledge,  the  very  Spirit  of  Truth,  was 
lying  latent  within  ourselves,  each  and  every  one, 
only  waiting  to  be  called  on  to  teach  us  the  truth 
about  all  things — ^most  marvelous  of  teachers,  and 
everywhere  present,  without  money  or  price! 

God  is  Power.  Not  simply  God  has  power, 
but  God  is  Power.  In  other  words,  all  the  power 
there  is  to  do  anything  is  God.  God,  the  source  of 
our  existence  every  moment,  is  not  simply  omnipo- 
tent (all  powerful) ;  he  is  Omnipotence  (all  pow- 
er) .  He  is  not  alone  omniscient  (all  knowing)  ;  he 
is  Omniscience  (all  knowledge).  He  is  not  only 
omnipresent,  but  more — Omnipresence.  God  is  not 
a  being  having  qualities,  but  he  is  the  Good  itself. 
Everything  you  can  think  of  that  is  good,  when  in 
its  absolute  perfection,  goes  to  make  up  that  invisi- 
ble being  we  call  God. 

God,  then,  is  the  Substance  (from  su&,  under, 
and  stare,  to  stand) ,  or  the  real  thing  standing  under 
every  visible  form  of  life,  love,  intelligence  or  power. 
Each  rock,  tree,  animal,  everything  visible,  is  a  mani- 
festation of  the  One  Spirit — God — differing  only  in 


Statement  of  Being  9 

degree  of  manifestation ;  and  each  of  the  numberless 
modes  of  manifestation,  or  individualities,  however 
insignificant,  contains  the  whole. 

One  drop  of  water  taken  from  the  ocean  is  just 
as  perfect  ocean  water  as  the  whole  great  body.  The 
constituent  elements  of  water  are  exactly  the  same, 
and  they  are  combined  in  precisely  the  same  ratio 
or  perfect  relation  to  each  other,  whether  we  con- 
sider one  drop,  a  pailful,  a  barrelful  or  the  entire 
ocean  out  of  which  the  lesser  quantities  are  taken; 
each  is  complete  in  itself;  they  differ  only  in  quan- 
tity or  degree.  Each  contains  the  whole ;  and  yet  no 
one  would  make  the  mistake  of  supposing  from  this 
statement  that  each  drop  was  the  entire  ocean. 

So  we  say  that  each  individual  manifestation  of 
God  contains  the  whole;  not  for  a  moment  meaning 
that  each  individual  is  God  in  his  entirety,  so  to 
speak,  but  that  each  is  God  come  forth,  shall  I  say  ? 
in  different  quantity  or  degree. 

Man  is  the  last  and  highest  manifestation  of  this 
Divine  Ejiergy,  the  fullest  and  most  complete  ex- 
pression (or  pressing  out)  of  God.  To  him,  there- 
fore, is  given  the  dominion  over  all  other  manifes- 
tations. 

God  is  not  only  the  Creative  Cause  of  every  vis- 
ible form  of  intelligence  and  life  at  its  commence- 


10 


First  Lesson 


ment,  but  each  moment  throughout  its  existence  he 
lives  within  every  created  thing  as  the  Hfe,  the  ever- 
renewing,  recreating,  upbuilding  cause  of  it.  He 
never  is  and  never  can  be  for  a  moment  separated 
from  his  creations.  Then  how  can  even  a  sparrow 
fall  to  the  ground  without  his  knowledge?  "And 
ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows." 

God  is.  Man  exists  (from  ex,  out  of,  and  sisiare^ 
to  stand  forth).     Man  stands  forth  out  of  God. 

Man  is  a  threefold  being,  made  up  of  Spirit,  soul 
and  body.  Spirit,  our  innermost,  real  being,  the 
absolute  part  of  us,  the  **!"  of  us,  which  you  and  I 
know  has  never  changed,  though  our  thoughts  and 
circumstances  may  have  changed  hundreds  of  times 
— this  part  of  us  is  a  standing  forth  of  God  into  visi- 
bility. It  is  the  Father  in  us.  At  this  central  part  of 
his  being  every  person  can  say,  "I  and  the  Father 
are  one,"  and  speak  only  absolute  truth. 

Mortal  mind — that  which  Paul  calls  "carnal 
mind" — ^is  the  consciousness  of  error. 

The  great  whole  of  as  yet  unmanifested  Good, 
or  God,  from  whom  we  are  projections  or  "off- 
spring," and  "in  whom  we  live,  move,  and  have  our 
being"  continually,  is  to  me  the  Father — Our 
Father;  "and  all  ye  are  brethren,"  because  all  are 
manifestations  of  one  and  the  same  Spirit.     Jesus, 


Statement  of  Being 


n 


recognizing  this,  said,  "Call  no  man  upon  the  earth 
your  father,  for  one  is  your  Father  which  is  in  heav- 
en." As  soon  as  any  of  us  recognize  our  true  rela- 
tionship to  all  men  we  at  once  slip  out  of  our  narrow, 
personal  loves,  our  "me  and  mine,"  into  the  universal 
love  which  takes  in  all  the  world,  joyfully  exclaim- 
ing, "Who  is  my  mother?  who  are  my  brethren? 
Behold,  these  are  my  mother  and  my  brethren!" 

Childlike,  untrained  minds  say  God  is  a  personal 
being.  The  statement  that  God  is  Principle  chills 
them,  and  in  terror  they  cry  out,  "They  have  taken 
away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have 
laid  him!" 

Broader  and  more  learned  minds  are  always 
cramped  by  the  thought  of  God  as  a  person,  for 
personality  limits  to  place  and  time. 

God  is  both  Principle  and  Person.  As  the  crea- 
tive underlying  cause  of  all  things,  he  is  Principle, 
impersonal;  as  expressed  in  each  individual,  he  be- 
comes personal  to  that  one — a  personal,  loving,  all- 
giving  Father-Mother.  All  that  any  human  soul  can 
ever  need  or  desire  is  the  infinite  Father-principle, 
the  great  reservoir  of  unexpressed  good.  There  is 
no  limit  to  the  Source  of  our  being,  nor  to  his  willing- 
ness to  manifest  more  of  himself  through  us,  when 
we  are  willing  to  do  his  will. 


12 


First  Lesson 


Hitherto  we  have  turned  our  hearts  and  efforts 
toward  the  external  for  fulfillment  of  our  desires  and 
for  satisfaction,  and  all  have  been  grievously  disap- 
pointed. For  the  hunger  of  every  one  for  satisfac- 
tion is  only  the  cry  of  the  homesick  child  for  its 
Father-Mother — God.  It  is  only  the  Spirit's  de- 
sire in  us  to  come  forth  into  our  consciousness  as 
more  and  more  perfection  until  we  shall  have  be- 
come full^  conscious  of  our  oneness  with  All-Perfec- 
tion. Man  never  has  been  and  never  can  be  satis- 
fied with  anything  less. 

We  each  have  direct  access  through  the  Father 
in  us — the  central  "I"  of  our  being — ^to  the  great 
whole  of  life,  love,  wisdom,  power,  which  is  God. 
What  we  now  want  to  know  is,  how  to  receive  more 
from  the  Fountainhead  and  to  make  more  and 
more  of  God  (which  is  but  another  name  for  All- 
Good)  manifest  in  our  daily  lives. 

There  is  but  one  Source  of  Being.  That  Source 
is  the  living  Fountain  of  All-Good,  be  it  life,  love, 
wisdom,  power,  or  whatever — the  Giver  of  all  good 
gifts.  That  Source  and  you  are  connected  every 
moment  of  your  existence.  You  have  power  to 
draw  upon  this  Source  for  all  of  good  you  are,  or 
ever  will  be,  capable  of  desiring. 


THINKING 


SECOND  LESSON 

We  learned  in  the  first  lesson  that  the  real  sub- 
stance within  everything  we  see  is  God;  that  all 
things  are  one  and  the  same  Spirit  in  different  de- 
grees of  manifestation ;  that  all  the  various  forms  of 
life  are  just  the  same  as  one  Life  come  forth  out  of 
the  invisible  into  visible  forms;  that  all  the  intelli- 
gence and  wisdom  there  is  in  the  world  is  God  as 
Wisdom  in  various  degrees  of  manifestation;  that  all 
the  love  which  people  feel  and  express  to  others  is 
just  a  little,  so  to  speak,  of  God  as  Love  come  into 
visibility  through  the  human  form. 

Now,  when  we  say  there  is  but  one  Mind  in  the 
entire  universe,  and  that  this  is  the  Mind  which  is 
God,  some  persons,  having  followed  understandingly 
the  first  lesson,  and  recognized  God  as  the  one  Life, 
one  Spirit,  one  Power,  pushing  itself  out  into  various 
degrees  of  manifestation  through  people  and  things, 
will  at  once  say,  "Yes,  that  is  all  plain." 

But  some  one  else  will  say,  "If  all  the  Mind 
there  is,  is  God,  then  how  can  I  think  wrong 
thoughts,  or  any  but  God  thoughts?" 

13 


14 


Second  Lesson 


The  connection  between  the  Universal  Mind 
and  our  own  individual  minds  is  one  of  the  most 
difficult  things  to  put  into  words,  but  when  it  once 
dawns  upon  one  it  is  so  easily  seen. 

There  is  in  reality  only  one  Mind  (or  Spirit, 
which  is  life,  intelligence,  etc.)  in  the  universe;  and 
yet  there  is  a  sense  in  which  we  are  individual,  or 
separate — a  sense  in  which  we  are  free  wills  and  not 
puppets. 

Man  is  made  up  of  spirit,  soul  and  body.  Spirit 
IS  the  central  unchanging  /  of  us,  the  part  which 
since  infancy  has  never  changed,  and  to  all  eternity 
never  will  change.  That  which  Christian  Scientists 
call  *  mortal  mind,"  is  the  region  of  the  intellect, 
where  we  do  conscious  thinking  and  are  free  wills. 
This  part  of  our  being  is  in  constant  process  of 
changing. 

In  our  descent,  or  outspringing,  from  God  into 
the  material  world,  spirit  is  inner — ^next  to  God ;  soul 
is  the  clothing,  as  it  were,  of  the  spirit ;  body  is  yet 
the  external  clothing  of  soul.  And  yet  all  are  in 
reality  one,  which  makes  up  the  man — as  steam  at 
the  center,  water  next,  and  ice  as  an  external,  all 
one,  only  in  different  degrees  of  condensation.  In 
thinking  of  ourselves  we  must  not  separate  spirit,  soul 
and  body,  but  rather  hold  all  as  one,  if  we  would  be 


Thinking 


15 


strong  and  powerful.  Man  originally  lived  con- 
sciously in  the  spiritual  part  of  himself.  He  fell  by 
descending  in  his  consciousness  to  the  external  or 
more  material  part  of  himself. 

"Mortal  mind,"  the  term  so  much  used  and  so 
distracting  to  many,  is  the  error  consciousness,  which 
gathers  its  information  through  the  five  senses  from 
the  outside  world.  It  is  what  Paul  calls  "carnal 
mind"  in  contradistinction  to  spiritual  mind;  and  he 
flatly  says:  "To  be  carnally  minded  [or  to  believe 
what  the  carnal  mind  says]  is  death  [sorrow,  trou- 
ble, sickness] ;  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  [i.  e.,  to 
be  able  to  still  the  carnal  mind  and  let  the  Spirit 
speak  within  us]  is  life  and  peace." 

The  Spirit  within  you  is  the  Divine  Mind,  the 
real  mind,  for  without  it  the  mortal  mind  disappears, 
just  as  a  shadow,  which  looks  so  very  real,  disap- 
pears when  the  real  thing  which  casts  it  is  removed. 

If  you  find  this  subject  of  mortal  mind  and  Uni- 
versal Mind  puzzling  to  you,  do  not  worry  over  it, 
and  above  all  things  do  not  discuss  it;  but  just  drop 
it  for  a  time,  and  as  you  go  on  with  the  lessons  you 
will  find  that  some  day  it  will  all  flash  suddenly 
ui)on  you  with  perfect  clearness. 

There  are  today  two  classes  of  people,  so  far  as 
mentality  goes,  who  are  seeking  deliverance  out  of 


16 


Second  Lesson 


Thinking 


17 


their  sickness,  trouble  and  unhappiness,  through  spir- 
itual means.  One  class  requires  that  every  statement 
made  be  proved  by  the  most  elaborate  and  logical 
argument,  before  they  can  or  will  receive  it.  The 
other  class  is  willing  at  once  to  "become  as  a  little 
child"  and  just  be  taught  how  to  take  the  first  steps 
toward  pure  understanding  (or  knowledge  of  Truth 
as  God  sees  it) ,  and  then  receive  the  light  by  direct 
revelation  from  the  Good.  Both  are  seeking  and 
eventually  will  reach  the  same  goal,  and  neither  is  to 
be  condemned. 

If  you  are  one  who  seeks  and  expects  to  get  any 
realizing  knowledge  of  spiritual  things  through  ar- 
gument or  reasoning,  no  matter  how  scholarly  your 
attainments  or  how  great  you  are  in  worldly  wisdom, 
you  are  a  failure  in  spiritual  understanding.  You 
are  attempting  an  utter  impossibility — ^that  of  crowd- 
ing the  Infinite  into  the  quart  measure  of  your  own 
intellectual  capacity. 

"The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God:  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him: 
neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spirit- 
ually  discerned.'*  Eventually  you  will  find  that  you 
are  only  beating  all  around  on  the  outside  of  the 
"kingdom  of  heaven."  though  in  close  proximity  to 
it,  and  you  will  then  become  willing  to  let  your  intel- 


lect take  the  place  of  the  "little  child,"  without 
which  no  man  can  enter  in. 

"Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God 
hath  [not  will]  prepared  for  them  that  love  him. 

"But  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us  by  his 
Spirit." 

"For  what  man  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man, 
save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him?  even  so  the 
things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of 
God." 

For  all  those  who  must  wade  through  months 
and  perhaps  years  of  this  purely  intellectual  or  men- 
tal process  there  are  today  many  books  to  help,  and 
many  purely  metaphysical  teachers  who  are  doing 
noble  and  praiseworthy  work  in  piloting  these  ear- 
nest seekers  after  truth  and  satisfaction.  To  them 
we  cry.  All  speed! 

But  we,  believing  with  Paul  that  "the  foolish- 
ness of  God  is  wiser  than  men,"  and  that  each  soul 
has  direct  access  to  all  there  is  in  God,  are  writing 
for  the  "little  children"  who  are  willing  at  once, 
without  question  or  discussion,  to  accept  and  try  a 
few  plain,  simple  rules,  such  as  Jesus  taught  the  com- 
mon people,  who  heard  him  gladly — rules  by  which 
they  can  find  the  Christ  (or  Divine)  within  them- 


18 


Second  Lesson 


selves,  and  through  it  each  man  for  himself  work  out 
his  own  salvation  from  all  his  troubles. 

In  other  words,  there  is  a  short  cut  to  the  top  of 
the  hill ;  and  while  there  is  a  good  but  long,  round- 
about road  for  those  who  need  it,  we  prefer  the  less 
laborious  means  of  attaining  the  same  end — by  seek- 
ing directly  the  Spirit  of  Truth  promised  to  dwell  in 
us  and  lead  us  into  all  truth.  Our  advice  is,  if 
you  want  to  make  rapid  progress  in  growth  toward 
spiritual  understanding,  stop  reading  many  books. 
They  only  give  you  some  one's  opinion  about  truth, 
or  are  a  sort  of  history  of  the  author's  experience  in 
seeking  truth.  What  you  want  is  revelation  of  truth 
in  your  oivn  soul,  and  that  will  never  come  through 
the  reading  of  many  books. 

Do  not  even  discuss  these  lessons  with  others. 
Go  alone.  Think  alone.  Seek  light  alone,  and  if 
it  does  not  come  at  once,  do  not  be  discouraged  and 
run  off  to  someone  else  to  get  light ;  for,  as  we  said 
before,  by  so  doing  you  get  only  the  opinion  of  the 
intellect  (false  mind),  and  may  be  then  farther 
away  from  the  truth  you  are  seeking  than  ever  be- 
fore; for  the  carnal,  or  mortal  mind  makes  false  re- 
ports. 

The  very  Spirit  of  Truth  is  at  your  call — within 
you.     "The  anointing  ye  have  received  abideth  in 


Thinking 


19 


you,"  Seek  it.  Wait  patiently  for  it  to  "guide  you 
into  all  truth  about  all  things." 

"Let  this  mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in 
Christ  Jesus."  This  is  the  Universal  Mind  which 
makes  no  mistakes.  Still  the  intellect  for  the  time 
being,  and  let  it  speak  to  you;  and  when  it  speaks, 
though  it  be  but  a  "still,  small  voice,"  you  will  know 
what  it  says  is  truth. 

How  will  you  know?  You  will  know  just  as 
you  know  you  are  alive.  All  the  argument  in  the 
world  to  convince  you  against  truth  which  comes  to 
you  through  direct  revelation  will  fall  flat  and  harm- 
less at  your  side.  And  the  truth  which  you  know, 
not  simply  believe,  you  can  use  to  help  others.  That 
which  comes  forth  through  your  spirit  will  reach  the 
very  innermost  spirit  of  him  to  whom  you  speak. 

What  is  born  from  the  outside  or  intellectual 
perception  reaches  only  the  intellect  of  him  you 
would  help. 

The  intellect,  or  false  mind,  which  is  servant  to 
the  Real  Mind,  and  as  servant  (but  not  as  master) 
is  good,  loves  to  argue;  but  as  its  information  is 
based  on  the  evidence  of  the  senses  and  not  on  the 
true  thoughts  of  the  Divine  Mind  in  us,  it  is  very 
fallible  and  full  of  error. 

Intellect  argues.    Spirit  takes  of  the  deep  things 


20 


Second  Lesson 


of  God,  and  reveals.  One  may  be  true;  the  other 
always  is  true.  Spirit  does  not  give  opinions  about 
truth ;  it  is  truth,  and  reveals  itself. 

Someone  has  truly  said  that  the  merest  child  who 
has  learned  from  the  depth  of  his  soul  to  say  **Our 
Father"  is  infinitely  greater  than  the  most  intellect- 
ual man  who  has  not  yet  learned  it.  Paul  was  a 
man  of  gigantic  intellect,  learned  in  all  the  law,  a 
Pharisee  of  the  Pharisees;  but  after  he  was  spirit- 
ually illumined  he  wrote,  "The  foolishness  of  God 
is  wiser  than  men,  and  the  weakness  of  God  is 
stronger  than  men." 

Now,  it  does  make  a  great  difference  in  our 
daily  lives  what  we  as  "mortal  minds"  think  about 
God,  about  ourselves,  about  our  neighbors.  Here- 
tofore, through  ignorance  of  our  real  selves  and  of 
the  results  of  our  thinking,  we  have  let  our  thoughts 
flow  out  at  random.  Our  minds  have  been  turned 
toward  the  external  of  our  being,  and  nearly  all  our 
information  has  been  gotten  through  its  five  senses. 
We  have  thought  wrong  because  misinformed  by 
these  senses,  and  our  troubles  and  sorrows  are  the 
results  of  our  wrong  thinking. 

"But,"  says  some  one,  "I  do  not  see  how  my 
thinking  evil  or  wrong  thoughts  about  God,  or  about 


Thinking 


21 


any  one,  can  make  me  sick  or  my  husband  lose  his 
position." 

Well,  I  will  not  just  now  try  to  explain  all  the 
mental  machinery  by  which  bad  results  follow  false 
thinking,  but  I  will  just  ask  you  to  try  thinking  true, 
right  thoughts  awhile,  and  see  what  the  result 
will  be. 

Take  the  thought,  "God  loves  me,  and  approves 
of  what  I  do."  Think  these  words  over  and  over 
continually  for  a  few  days,  trying  to  realize  that 
they  are  true,  and  see  what  the  effect  will  be  on  your 
body  and  circumstances. 

First,  you  get  a  new  exhilaration  of  mind,  with  a 
great  desire  and  a  sense  of  power  to  please  God; 
then  a  quicker,  better  circulation  of  blood,  with  sense 
of  pleasant  warmth  in  the  body,  followed  by  better 
digestion,  etc.  Later,  as  the  truth  flows  out  through 
your  being  into  your  surroundings,  everybody  will 
begin  to  manifest  a  new  love  for  you  without  your 
knowing  why;  and  finally,  circumstances  will  begin 
to  change  and  fall  into  harmony  with  your  desires 
instead  of  being  adverse  to  them. 

Everyone  knows  how  strong  thoughts  of  fear  or 
grief  have  turned  hair  white  in  a  few  hours;  how 
great  fear  makes  the  heart  beat  so  rapidly  as  to  seem 
about  to  "jump  out  of  the  body,"  this  result  not  be- 


22 


Second  Lesson 


ing  at  all  dependent  upon  whether  there  is  any  real 
cause  for  fear  or  it  be  a  purely  imaginary  cause. 
Just  so,  strong  thoughts  of  criticism  will  render  the 
blood  acid,  causing  rheumatism.  Bearing  mental 
burdens  makes  more  stooped  shoulders  than  does 
bearing  heavy  material  loads.  Believing  that  God 
regards  us  as  "miserable  sinners,"  that  he  is  contin- 
ually watching  us  and  our  failures  with  disapproval, 
brings  utter  discouragement  and  a  sort  of  half- 
paralyzed  condition  of  mind  and  body,  which  mean 
failure  in  all  our  undertakings. 

Is  it  difficult  for  you  to  understand  why,  if 
God  lives  in  us  all  the  time,  he  does  not  keep  our 
thoughts  right  instead  of  permitting  us  through  igno- 
rance to  drift  into  wrong  thoughts,  and  so  bring 
trouble  upon  ourselves? 

Well,  we  are  not  automatons.  Your  child  will 
never  learn  to  walk  alone  if  you  always  do  his  walk- 
ing. Because  you  recognize  that  the  only  way  for 
him  to  be  strong,  self-reliant  in  all  things — in  other 
words,  to  become  a  man — is  to  throw  him  upon  him- 
self, and  let  him  through  experience  come  to  a 
knowledge  of  things  for  himself,  you  are  not  willing 
to  make  a  mere  puppet  of  him  by  taking  the  steps  for 
him,  even  though  you  know  he  will  fall  down  many 


Thinking 


23 


a  time  and  give  himself  severe  bumps  in  the  ongoing 
toward  perfect  physical  manhood. 

We  are  in  process  of  growth  into  the  highest  spir- 
itual manhood  and  womanhood.  We  do  get  many 
a  fall  and  bump  on  the  way,  but  only  through  these, 
not  necessarily  by  them,  can  our  growth  proceed. 
No  father,  no  mother,  no  matter  how  strong  or  deep 
their  love,  can  grow  for  their  children.  Nor  can 
God,  who  is  omnipotence,  at  the  center  of  our  being, 
grow  spiritually  for  us  without  making  of  us  autom- 
atons instead  of  individuals. 

If  you  keep  your  thoughts  turned  toward  the  ex- 
ternal of  yourself,  or  of  others,  you  will  see  only 
the  things  which  are  not  real,  but  temporal,  and 
which  pass  away.  All  the  faults,  failures  or  lacks 
in  people  or  circumstances  will  seem  very  real  to  you, 
and  you  will  be  unhappy,  miserable  and  sick. 

If  you  turn  your  thoughts  away  from  the  exter- 
nal toward  the  spiritual,  and  let  them  dwell  on  the 
good  in  yourself  and  others,  all  the  apparent  evil  will 
first  drop  out  of  your  thoughts  and  then  out  of  your 
life.  Paul  understood  this  when  he  wrote  the  Phil- 
ippians:  "Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are 
true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things 
are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever 
things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  re- 


24 


Second  Lesson 


port;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any 
praise,  think  on  these  things." 

We  can  each  learn  how  to  turn  our  conscious 
mind  toward  the  Universal  Mind,  or  the  Spirit  within 
us.  We  can,  by  practice,  learn  how  to  make  this 
everyday,  topsy-turvy,  carnal  mind  be  still — actually 
to  stop  thinking — and  the  Mind  which  is  God  (all 
Wisdom,  all  Love)  think  in  us  and  out  through  us. 

Imagine,  if  you  will,  a  great  reservoir,  out  of 
which  lead  innumerable  small  rivulets  or  channels. 
At  its  farther  end  each  channel  opens  out  into  a 
small  fountain.  TTiis  fountain  is  not  only  being  con- 
tinually filled  and  replenished  from  the  reservoir, 
but  is  itself  a  radiating  center  from  whence  it  gives 
out  in  all  directions  that  which  it  receives,  so  that  all 
who  come  within  its  radius  are  refreshed  and  blessed. 

That  is  exactly  our  relation  to  God.  Each  one 
of  us  is  a  radiating  center.  Each  one,  no  matter  how 
small  or  ignorant,  is  the  little  fountain  at  the  far 
end  of  the  channel,  the  other  end  of  which  opens  out 
in  all  there  is  in  God.  This  fountain  represents 
our  free  will,  or  individuality,  as  separate  from  the 
Great  Reservoir — God — and  yet  as  one  with  him 
in  that  we  are  constantly  fed  and  renewed  from  him ; 
and  that  without  him  we  are  nothing. 

Each  one  of  us,  no  matter  how  insignificant  we 


Thinking 


25 


may  be  to  the  world,  may  receive  from  God  unlim- 
ited good  of  whatever  kind  we  desire,  and  radiate  it 
to  all  around  us.  But  remember,  we  must  radiate 
if  we  would  receive  more.    Stagnation  is  death. 

Oh,  I  want  the  simplest  mind  to  grasp  this  idea 
that  the  very  wisdom  of  God,  the  love,  the  life,  the 
power,  which  is  God,  is  ready  and  waiting  with 
longing  impulse  to  flow  out  through  us  in  unlimited 
degree!  When  it  flows  in  unusual  degree  through 
these  intellects,  men  exclaim.  "What  a  wonderful 
mind!"  when  through  these  hearts,  it  is  the  love 
which  melts  all  bitterness,  envy,  selfishness,  jealousy, 
before  it;  when  through  our  bodies  as  life,  no  dis- 
ease can  withstand  its  onward  march. 

We  do  not  have  to  beseech  God  any  more  than 
we  have  to  beseech  the  sun  to  shine.  The  sun  shines 
because  it  is  a  law  of  its  being  to  shine,  and  it  cannot 
help  it.  No  more  can  God  help  pouring  into  us 
unlimited  wisdom,  life,  power,  all  good,  because  to 
give  is  a  law  of  his  being.  Nothing  can  hinder  him 
except  our  own  free  will.  The  sun  may  shine  ever 
so  brightly,  but  if  we  have  through  willfulness  or 
ignorance  placed  ourselves,  or  been  placed  by  our 
progenitors  in  the  far  corner  of  a  damp,  dark  cellar, 
we  do  not  get  either  joy  or  comfort  from  its  shining ; 
then  to  us  the  sun  never  shines. 


26 


Second  Lesson 


So  we  have  heretofore  known  nothing  of  how  to 
get  ourselves  out  of  the  cellar  of  ignorance,  doubt 
and  despair;  and  to  our  wrong  thinking  God  has 
seemed  to  withhold  the  life,  wisdom,  power,  we 
wanted  so  much,  though  we  besought  him  never  so 
earnestly. 

The  sun  does  not  radiate  life  and  warmth  today 
and  darkness  and  chill  tomorrow;  it  cannot  from  the 
nature  of  its  being.  Nor  does  God  radiate  love  at 
one  time,  while  at  others,  anger,  wrath  and  displeas- 
ure flow  out  from  his  mind  toward  us. 

"Doth  a  fountain  send  forth  at  the  same  place 
sweet  water  and  bitter?  Can  a  fig  tree,  my  breth- 
ren, bear  olive  berries?  either  a  vine  figs?" 

God  is  All-Good — always  good,  always  love. 
He  never  changes,  no  matter  what  we  do  or  may 
have  done.  He  is  always  trying  to  pour  more  of 
himself  through  us  into  visibility  so  as  to  make  us 
grander,  larger,  fuller,  freer  individuals. 

While  the  child  is  crying  out  for  its  Father- 
Mother  God,  the  Father-Mother  is  yearning  with 
infinite  tenderness  to  satisfy  the  child. 

**In  the  heart  of  man  a  cry. 
In  the  heart  of  God  supply.** 


Thinking 


n 


RECAPITULATION 

TTiere  is  but  One  Mind  in  the  universe. 

Mortal  mind  is  false  mind,  or  intellect.  It 
gathers  its  information  and  speaks  from  rvithout. 

Universal  Mind  sees  and  speaks  from  rvithin. 

Our  ways  of  thinking  make  our  happiness  or  un- 
happiness,  our  success  or  non-success.  We  can  by 
effort  change  our  ways  of  thinking. 

God  is  at  all  times,  regardless  of  our  so-called 
sins,  trying  to  pour  more  good  into  our  lives  to  make 
them  larger  and  more  successful. 


DENIALS 

THIRD  LESSON 

Then  said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples.  If  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross, 
and  follow  me. — Matt.  16:24, 

All  systems  for  spiritualizing  the  mind  include 
much  denial.  Every  religion  in  all  the  ages  had 
some  sort  of  denial  as  one  of  its  foundations.  We 
all  know  how  the  Puritans  believed  that  the  more 
rigidly  they  denied  themselves  any  comfort  the  bet- 
ter they  pleased  God.  So  far  has  this  idea  taken 
possession  of  the  human  mind  during  some  ages  that 
devout  souls  have  even  tortured  their  bodies  in  vari- 
ous ways,  believing  that  they  were  thus  making 
themselves  more  spiritual,  or  at  least  were  in  some 
way  placating  an  angry  God.  Even  today  most 
people  interpret  the  above  saying  of  Jesus  as  mean- 
ing. If  any  man  wants  to  please  God  he  must  give  up 
about  all  the  enjoyment  and  comfort  he  has,  all 
things  he  likes  and  wants,  and  must  take  up  the 
heavy  cross  of  constantly  doing  the  things  which  are 
repugnant  to  him  in  his  daily  life.  This  is  why 
many  young  people  say,  "When  I  am  old  I  will  be 

28 


Denials 


29 


a  Christian,  but  not  now,  for  I  want  to  enjoy  life  a 
while  first." 

There  could,  I  am  sure,  be  nothing  further  from 
the  meaning  of  the  Nazarene  than  the  above  inter- 
pretation. In  our  ignorance  of  the  nature  of  God, 
our  Father,  and  of  our  relation  to  him,  we  have  be- 
lieved that  all  our  enjoyment  came  from  external 
sources,  usually  from  gaining  possession  of  some- 
thing we  did  not  have.  The  poor  see  enjoyment 
only  in  possessing  abundance  of  money.  The  rich, 
who  are  satiated  with  life's  so-called  pleasures  until 
their  lives  have  become  like  a  person  with  an  over- 
loaded stomach  compelled  to  sit  constantly  at  a 
well-spread  table,  are  often  the  most  bitter  in  the 
complaint  that  life  holds  no  happiness  for  them. 
The  sick  one  believes  that  were  he  well  he  would  be 
perfectly  happy.  The  healthy  but  hard-working 
man  or  woman  feels  the  need  of  some  days  of  rest 
and  recreation  that  the  monotony  of  his  or  her  life 
may  be  broken. 

So  ever  the  mind  has  been  turned  to  some  exter- 
nal change  of  condition  or  circumstance  in  pursuit  of 
satisfaction  and  enjoyment.  In  after  years,  when 
men  have  tried  all,  getting  first  this  thing  and  then 
that,  which  they  thought  would  yield  them  happi- 
ness, and  have  been  grievously  disappointed,  they  in 


30 


Third  Lesson 


a  kind  of  desperation  turn  to  God  and  try  to  find 
some  sort  of  comfort  in  believing  that  sometime, 
somewhere,  they  will  get  what  they  want  and  be 
happy.  Thenceforth  their  lives  are  patient  and  sub- 
missive, but  they  are  destitute  of  any  real  joy. 

This  same  Nazarene,  to  whom  we  always  go 
back  because  to  us  he  is  the  best-known  teacher  and 
demonstrator  of  truth,  spent  nearly  three  years  teach- 
ing the  people — ^the  common  everyday  people  like 
you  and  me,  who  wanted,  just  as  we  do,  food  and 
rent  and  clothing,  money,  friends  and  love — ^to  love 
their  enemies,  and  do  good  to  those  who  persecuted 
them ;  to  resist  not  evil  in  any  way,  but  to  give  double 
to  any  one  who  tried  to  get  away  what  belonged  to 
them;  to  cease  from  all  anxiety  regarding  the  things 
they  needed,  because  "your  heavenly  Father  know- 
eth  that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things."  And 
then  in  talking  one  day  he  said,  "These  things  have 
I  spoken  unto  you,  that  my  joy  might  remain  in  you» 
and  that  your  joy  might  be  full."  And  another 
day  he  said,  "Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  of  the  Father 
in  my  name,  he  will  give  it  you."  "Ask  and  ye 
shall  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full."  And 
again,  "I  do  not  say  that  I  will  entreat  the  Father 
for  you,  for  the  Father  himself  loves  you."  We 
have  further  learned  that  God  is  the  sum  total  of  all 


Denials 


31 


the  good  in  the  universe,  and  that  there  is  in  the 
Mind  which  is  God  a  perpetual  desire  to  pour  more 
of  himself — the  substance  of  all  good  things — 
through  us  into  visibility,  or  into  our  lives. 

Surely  all  these  things  do  not  look  as  though, 
when  Jesus  said  that  the  way  to  be  like  him  and 
possess  like  power,  was  to  deny  yourself,  he  meant 
that  we  are  to  go  without  the  enjoyable  comforts  of 
life,  or  in  any  way  deprive  or  torture  ourselves. 

In  these  lessons  we  have  seen  that  besides  the  real 
innermost  Self  of  each  of  us — ^the  Self  spelled  with 
a  capital  "S,"  because  it  is  an  expression  or  pressing^ 
out  of  God  into  visibility,  and  is  always  one  with  the 
Father — ^there  is  a  mortal  self,  a  carnal  mind,  which 
reports  lies  from  the  external  world,  and  is  not  to 
be  relied  upon  at  all;  this  is  the  self  of  which  Jesus.  ^ 
spoke  when  he  said,  "Deny  yourself."    This  intel-^  ( 
lect  man,  carnal  mind,  mortal  mind,  or  whatever 
you  choose  to  call  him,  is  envious  and  jealous  and 
fretful  and  sick  because  he  is   selfish.    This  mortal 
self  is  always  seeking  its  own  gratification  at  the 
expense,  if  need  be,  of  some  one  else. 

The  Self  of  you  is  never  sick,  never  afraid,  never 
selfish.  It  is  the  part  of  every  man  which  "seeketh 
not  his  own,  is  not  puffed  up,  thinketh  no  evil."  It 
is  always  seeking  to  give  to  others,  while  the  self 


32 


Third  Lesson 


is  always  seeking  her  own.  Heretofore  we  have 
lived  in  the  self  region.  We  have  believed  all  that 
this  false  mind  has  told  us,  and  the  consequence  is 
we  have  been  overwhelmed  with  all  kinds  of  pri- 
vation and  suffering. 

Some  people,  who,  during  the  last  few  years, 
have  been  making  a  special  study  of  the  mind,  find 
it  a  fact  that  certain  wrong  or  false  beliefs  held  by 
us  are  really  the  cause  of  all  sorts  of  trouble— phys- 
ical, moral  and  financial.  They  have  learned  that 
wrong  (or,  as  they  call  them,  error)  beliefs  arise 
only  in  the  carnal  or  mortal  mind;  and  they  have 
'  learned  and  actually  proven  that  we  can  by  s^per- 
^  sistent  effort  of  the  will  change  our  beliefs,  ai^d  by 
this  means  alone  entirely  change  our  troublesome 
circumstances  and  bodily  conditions. 

One  of  the  methods  which  they  have  found  will 
work  every  time  in  getting  rid  of  troublesome  con- 
ditions (which  are  all  the  result  of  believing  the  lies 
told  us  by  the  carnal  mind,  the  senses)  is  to  deny 
them  in  ioto :  first,  to  deny  that  any  such  things  have 
or  could  have  power  to  make  us  unhappy ;  second, 
to  deny  that  these  things  do  in  reality  exist  at  all. 

The  word  "deny"  has  two  definitions,  according 
to  Webster.  To  deny,  in  one  sense,  is  to  withhold 
from,  as  to  deny  bread  to  the  hungry.    To  deny,  in 


I 


Denials 


33 


another  sense  (and  we  believe  it  was  in  this  latter 
way  that  Jesus  used  it) ,  is  to  declare  not  to  be  true^ 
to  repudiate  as  utterly  false.  To  deny  one's  self, 
then,  is  not  to  withhold  comfort  or  happiness  from 
the  external  man,  much  less  to  inflict  torture  upon 
it,  but  it  is  to  deny  the  claims  of  this  false  self  called 
"mortal  mind" — ^to  declare  these  claims  to  be  un- 
true. 

If  you  have  done  any  piece  of  work  wrong,  the 
very  first  step  toward  getting  it  right  is  to  undo  the 
wrong,  to  erase  from  the  slate  so  far  as  possible  the 
wrong  figures  you  have  made,  and  begin  again  from 
the  foundation.  We  have  believed  wrong  about 
God  and  about  ourselves.  We  have  believed  that 
God  was  angry  with  us,  and  that  we  were,  at  the 
best,  great  sinners  who  ought  to  be  (and  most  of  us 
are)  afraid  of  him.  We  believed  that  sickness  and 
poverty  and  trouble  were  evil  things  put  here  by  this 
same  God  just  to  torture  us  in  some  way  into  serv- 
ing him  and  loving  him.  We  have  believed  that  we 
have  pleased  God  best  when  we  became  so  abso- 
lutely paralyzed  by  our  troubles  as  to  be  patiently 
submissive  to  them  all,  and  not  even  try  to  rise  out  of 
them  or  overcome  them.  All  false,  entirely  false! 
And  the  first  step  toward  freeing  ourselves  from  our 


34 


Third  Lesson 


troubles  is  to  get  rid  of  our  erroneous  beliefs  about 
God  and  about  ourselves. 

"But,"  objects  one,  "if  a  thing  is  not  so,  and  I 
have  believed  a  lie  about  it,  I  do  not  see  just  how 
my  believing  wrong  about  it  could  affect  my  bodily 
health  or  my  circumstances." 

A  child  can  be  so  afraid  of  an  imaginary  buga- 
boo under  the  bed  as  to  have  convulsions  or  become 
insane.  Should  you  today  receive  a  telegraphic  mes- 
sage that  your  husband,  wife  or  child,  who  is  away 
from  you,  had  been  suddenly  killed,  your  suffering, 
mental  and  physical,  and  perhaps  extending  even  to 
your  external  and  (insmcial  affairs,  would  be  just  as 
great  as  though  it  were  really  true;  and  yet  the  re- 
port may  have  been  entirely  false.  Elxactly  so  have 
these  messages  of  bugaboos  behind  the  doors,  buga- 
boos of  divine  wrath  and  of  our  own  weakness,  come 
to  us  through  the  senses  until  we  are  paralyzed  by 
our  fears  of  them. 

Now  let  us  arouse  ourselves.  Denial  is  the  first 
practical  step  toward  wiping  out  of  our  minds  the 
mistaken  beliefs  of  a  lifetime — the  beliefs  which 
have  made  such  sad  havoc  in  our  lives.  By  denial 
we  mean  declaring  a  thing  which  seems  true  not  to 
be  true.  Appearances  are  directly  oppx)sed  to  the 
teachings  of  truth  or  science.     Jesus  said,  "Judge  \ 


Denials 


35 


.  not  according  to  the  appearance,  but  judge  righteous 
^    [right]   judgment." 

Suppose  you  had  always  been  taught  that  the 
sun  really  moved  or  revolved  around  the  earth,  and 
some  one  should  now  try  to  persuade  you  that  the 
opposite  was  the  truth.  You  would  see  at  a  glance 
that  such  might  be  the  case,  and  yet  as  often  as  you 
saw  the  sun  rise,  the  old  impression,  made  on  your 
mind  by  the  wrong  belief  of  years,  would  come  up 
and  seem  almost  too  real  to  be  disputed.  The  only 
way  you  could  cleanse  your  mind  of  the  impression, 
and  make  the  untrue  seem  unreal,  would  be  by  re- 
peatedly denying  the  old  belief;  saying  over  and 
over  to  yourself  as  often  as  the  subject  came  up  in 
your  mind,  "This  is  not  true,  the  siin  does  not  move ; 
it  stands  still,  and  the  earth  moves."  Eventually  the 
sun  would  not  even  seem  to  move. 

The  appearances  are  that  our  bodies  and  our 
circumstances  control  our  thoughts,  but  science  says 
directly  the  reverse. 

If  you  repeatedly  deny  a  false  or  unhappy  con- 
dition, it  not  only  loses  its  power  to  make  you  un- 
happy, but  eventually  the  condition  itself  is  de- 
stroyed by  your  denial. 

What  every  one  desires  is  to  have  only  the  good 
manifested  in  his  life  and  surroundings — to  have  his 


36 


Third  Lesson 


life  full  of  love,  to  have  perfect  health,  to  know  all 
things,  to  have  great  power  and  much  joy ;  and  this 
is  just  exactly  rvhat  God  Tvants  us  to  have.  All  love 
is  God  in  manifestation,  as  we  have  learned  in  a 
previous  lesson.  All  wisdom  is  God.  All  life  and 
health  is  God.  All  joy  (because  all  good)  and  all 
power  are  God.  All  good  of  whatever  kind  is  God 
come  forth  into  visibility  through  people  or  some 
other  visible  form.  When  we  crave  more  of  any 
good  thing,  we  are  in  reality  craving  more  of  God 
to  come  forth  into  our  lives  so  that  we  can  realize  it 
by  the  senses.  Having  more  of  God  does  not  take 
out  of  our  lives  the  good  things — it  onl^  puts  more 
of  them  in.  In  the  mind,  which  is  God,  there  is 
always  the  desire  to  give  more,  for  the  divine  im- 
pulse is  forever  to  get  more  of  itself  into  visibility. 

Intellectually  we  may  see  the  fact  of  our  own 
God-being  which  never  changes.  What  we  need  is 
to  realize  our  oneness  with  the  Father  at  all  times. 
In  order  to  realize  it  we  den^  the  appearances  in 
ourselves  and  others  which  seem  contrary  to  this — 
den})  them  as  realities;  declare  they  are  not  true. 

There  are  four>or  five  great  error  thoughts  which 
nearly  every  one  holds,  and  which  the  people  who 
have  grown  out  of  sickness  and  trouble  by  these 
means  have  foimd  it  good  for  all  people  to  deny  in 


Denials 


37 


order  to  cleanse  the  mind  of  the  direful  effects  of 
believing  them.     They  are  something  like  this: 

First,  There  is  no  evil. 

There  is  but  one  power  in  the  universe,  and  that 
is  God — Good.  God  is  all  good,  and  God  is  onmi- 
present.  Apparent  evils  are  not  entities  or  things  of 
themselves.  They  are  simply  an  absence  of  the 
good,  just  as  darkness  is  an  absence  of  light.  But 
God,  or  Good,  is  omnipresent,  so  the  apparent  ab- 
sence of  good  (evil)  is  unreal.  It  is  only  an  appear- 
ance of  evil,  just  as  the  moving  sun  was  an  appear- 
ance. You  need  not  wait  to  discuss  this  matter  of 
evil  or  to  fully  understand  all  about  why  you  deny 
it,  but  just  begin  to  practice  the  denials  in  an  unprej- 
udiced way  and  see  how  marvelou3ly  it  will,  after  a 
little,  deliver  you  from  some  of  the  so-called  evils 
of  your  daily  life. 

Second,  There  is  no  absence  of  life,  substance  or 
intelligence  anywhere. 

We  have  seen  that  the  real  is  the  spiritual. 
"The  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal;  but  the 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal.'*  By  using 
this  denial  you  will  soon  break  the  bondage  you  are 
in  to  matter  and  to  material  conditions.  You  will 
know  you  are  free. 


36 


Third  Lesson 


Third,  Pain,  sickness,  poverty,  old  age,  death, 
cannot  master  me,  for  they  are  not  real. 

Fourth,  There  is  nothing  in  all  the  universe  for 
me  to  fear,  for  greater  is  He  that  is  within  me  than 
he  that  is  in  the  world. 

God  says,  **I  will  contend  with  him  that  con- 
tendeth  with  thee."  He  says  it  to  every  living  child 
of  his,  and  every  person  is  his  child. 

Repeat  these  four  denials  silently  several  times  a 
day,  not  with  a  strained  anxiety  to  get  something  out 
of  them,  but  trying  calmly  to  realize  the  meaning  of 
the  words  spoken: 

There  is  no  evil  (or  devil). 

There  is  no  reality,  life  or  intelligence  apart 
from  Spirit. 

Pain,  sickness,  poverty,  old  age  and  death  are 
not  real,  and  they  have  no  power  over  me. 

There  is  nothing  in  all  the  universe  for  me  to  fear. 

Almost  hourly  little  vexations  and  fears  come  up 
in  your  life.  Meet  each  one  with  a  denial.  Calmly 
and  coolly  say  within  yourself,  "That's  nothing  at 
all.  It  cannot  harm  or  disturb  me  or  make  me  un- 
happy." Do  not  vigorously  fight  it,  but  let  your  de- 
nial be  the  denial  of  superiority  to  it,  as  you  would 
deny  the  power  of  ants  on  their  little  hill  to  disturb 
you.    If  you  are  angry,  stand  still,  and  silently  deny 


Denials 


39 


it.  Say  you  are  not  angry;  you  are  love  made 
manifest,  and  cannot  be  angry;  it  is  not  true,  etc., 
and  the  anger  will  suddenly  leave  you  entirely. 

If  some  one  shows  you  ill-will,  silently  deny  his 
power  to  hurt  you  or  make  you  unhappy.  Should 
you  find  yourself  feeling  jealous  or  envious  towards 
any  one,  instantly  turn  the  heel  of  negation  on  the 
hydra-headed  monster.  Declare  you  are  not  jeal- 
ous; that  you  are  an  expression  of  Perfect  Love 
(which  expression  is  God  pressed  out  into  visibility) , 
and  cannot  feel  jealousy.  There  is  really  nothing 
and  no  one  to  be  jealous  of,  for  all  people  are  one 
and  the  same  Spirit.  "And  there  are  diversities  of 
operations  [or  manifestations],  but  it  is  the  same 
God  which  worketh  in  all,"  says  St.  Paul.  How 
can  you  be  jealous  of  another  part  of  yourself  which 
seems  to  you  "more  comely"? 

Shall  the  foot  be  jealous  of  the  hand,  or  the  ear 
of  the  eye?  Are  not  the  seemingly  feeble  members 
of  the  body  just  as  important  to  the  perfection  of  the 
whole  as  the  others?  Do  you  seem  to  be  less  or 
have  less  than  some  others?  Remember  that  all  envy 
and  jealousy  is  in  the  false  or  mortal  mind,  and  that 
in  reality  you,  however  insignificant,  are  an  absolute 
necessity  to  God  in  order  to  make  the  perfect  whole. 

If  you  find  yourself  dreading  to  meet  any  one,  or 


40 


Third  Lesson 


afraid  to  step  out  and  do  what  you  want  or  ought 
to  do,  immediately  begin  to  say,  "It  is  not  true;  I 
am  not  afraid ;  I  am  Perfect  Love,  and  can  know  no 
fear.  No  one,  nothing  in  all  the  universe,  can  hurt 
me/'  You  will  find  after  a  little  that  all  the  fear 
has  disappeared,  all  trepidation  is  gone. 

Denials  bring  freedom  from  bondage,  and  hap- 
piness comes  when  we  can  effectually  deny  the 
power  of  things  to  touch  or  trouble  us. 

Have  you  been  living  in  the  negations  for  years, 
denying  your  ability  to  succeed,  denying  your  health, 
denying  your  Godhood,  denying  your  power  to  ac- 
complish anything,  by  feeling  yourself  a  child  of  the 
devil  or  of  weakness?  If  so,  this  constant  negation 
has  paralyzed  you  and  destroyed  your  power. 

When,  in  die  next  lesson,  you  learn  something 
about  affirmations — ^the  opposite  of  negations — you 
will  know  how  to  lift  yourself  out  of  the  realm  of 
failure  into  that  of  success. 

All  your  happiness,  all  your  health  and  power, 
come  from  God.  They  flow  in  an  unbroken  stream 
from  the  Fountainhead  into  the  very  center  of  your 
being,  and  radiate  from  center  to  circumference,  or 
to  the  senses.  When  you  acknowledge  this  con- 
stantly, and  deny  that  outside  things  can  hinder  your 
happiness  or  health  or  power,  it  helps  the  sense 


Denials 


41 


nature  to  realize  health  and  power  and  happiness. 

No  person  or  thing  in  the  universe,  no  chain  of 
circumstances,  can  by  any  possibility  interpose  itself 
between  you  and  all  joy — all  good.  You  may 
falsely  think  that  something  stands  between  you  and 
your  heart's  desire,  and  so  live  with  that  desire  un- 
fulfilled; but  it  is  not  true.  This  "think"  is  the 
bugaboo  under  the  bed  that  has  no  reality.  Deny 
it,  deny  it,  and  you  will  find  yourself  free,  and  you 
will  realize  that  this  seeming  was  all  false.  Good 
will  then  begin  to  flow  in  to  you,  and  you  will  see 
clearly  that  nothing  can  stand  between  you  and 
your  own. 

Denials  should  be  spoken  silently  and  audibly, 
but  not  in  a  manner  to  call  forth  antagonism  and 
discussion. 

To  some  all  this  sort  of  mechanical  working  will 
seem  a  strange  way  of  entering  into  a  more  spiritual 
life.  There  are  those  who  easily  and  naturally  glide 
out  of  the  old  material  life  into  a  deeper  spiritual  one 
without  any  external  helps.  But  there  are  also  thou- 
sands of  people  hungering  today  for  a  higher  life, 
and  thousands  of  others  who  are  seeking  primarily 
the  loaves  and  fishes  of  bodily  health  and  financial 
success,  but  really  are  just  the  same  seeking  a  higher 
life,  who  must  needs  take  the  very  first  steps.    For 


42 


Third  Lesson 


such,  practicing  these  mechanical  rules  in  a  whole- 
hearted way,  without  prejudice,  is  doing  the  very 
best  thing  px)ssible  towards  purity  of  heart  and  life, 
towards  growth  in  divine  knowledge,  and  fullness  of 
joy  in  all  things  undertaken. 


AFFIRMATIONS 


FOURTH  LESSON 

Thou  shalt  make  thy  prayer  unto  him,  and  he  shall 
hear  thee,  and  thou  shalt  pay  thy  vows.  Thou  shalt  also 
decree  a  thing  and  it  shall  be  established  unto  thee;  and  the 
light  shall  shine  upon  thy  ways. — Job  22:27,  28. 

Most  people,  when  they  first  consciously  set  out 
to  gain  a  fuller,  higher  knowledge  of  spiritual  things, 
do  so  because  of  dissatisfaction — or  perhaps  unsatis- 
faction  would  be  the  better  word — ^with  their  past 
and  present  condition  of  life.  Inherent  in  the  hu- 
man mind  is  the  thought  that  somewhere,  somehow, 
it  ought  to  be  able  to  bring  to  itself  that  which  it 
desires  and  which  would  satisfy.  This  thought  is 
but  the  foreshadowing  of  that  which  really  is. 

"Our  wishes,  it  is  said,  do  measure  just 
Our  capabilities.     Who  with  his  might 
Aspires  unto  the  mountain's  upper  height. 
Holds  in  that  aspiration  a  great  trust 
To  be  fulfilled,  a  warrant  that  he  must 
Not  disregard,  a  strength  to  reach  the  height 
To  which  his  hopes  have  taken  flight.** 

The  hunger  we  feel  is  but  the  prompting  of  the 
Divine  within  us,  which  longs  with  an  infinite  long- 

43 


44 


Fourth  Lesson 


ing  to  fill  us.  It  is  but  one  side  of  the  law  of  de- 
mand and  supply,  the  other  side  of  which  is  un- 
changeably, unfailingly,  the  promise,  "What  things 
soever  ye  desire,  when  ye  pray,  believe  that  ye  re- 
ceive them,  and  ye  shall  have  them."  The  supply  is 
always  equal  to  the  demand,  but  there  must  first  be 
a  demand  before  supply  is  of  use. 

There  is  a  place  attainable  by  us  where  we  see 
that  our  doing  can  cease,  because  Spirit  is  the  fulfill- 
ment of  all  our  desires.  We  simply  **be  still  and 
know"  that  all  things  whatsoever  we  desire  are  ours 
already;  and  this  knowing  it,  or  recognizing  it,  has 
power  to  bring  the  invisible  God  (or  Good),  who  is 
the  innermost  substance  of  all  things,  forth  into  just 
the  visible  form  of  good  we  want. 

But  in  order  to  attain  this  place  of  power  we 
must  take  the  preliminary  steps,  faithfully,  earnestly, 
trustingly,  though  these  steps  at  first  glance  seem  to 
us  as  useless  and  ridiculous  as  do  the  ceremonial 
forms  and  religious  observances  of  the  ritualistic 
churchman. 

To  affirm  anything  is  to  assert  positively,  even  in 
the  face  of  all  contrary  evidence,  that  it  is  so.  We 
may  not  be  able  to  see  horv,  by  our  simply  affirm- 
ing a  thing  to  be  true,  which  to  all  human  reasoning 
or  sight  does  not  seem  to  be  true  at  all,  we  can  bring 


Affirmations 


45 


that  thing  to  pass;  but  we  can  compel  ourselves  to 
cease  all  quibbling  and  go  to  work  to  prove  the  rule 
each  one  for  himself. 

This  beautiful  Presence  all  about  us  and  within 
us  is  the  substance  of  every  good  which  we  can  pos- 
sibly desire — aye,  infinitely  more  than  we  are  capa- 
ble of  desiring;  for  "Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  him." 

In  some  way,  which  it  is  not  easy  to  put  into 
words — for  spiritual  laws  cannot  always  be  com- 
passed in  mortal  words,  and  yet  they  are  none  the 
less  infallible,  immutable  laws  which  work  with  pre- 
cision and  certainty — ^there  is  power  in  our  word  of 
faith  to  bring  all  good  things  right  into  our  every- 
day life. 

We  speak  the  word,  we  confidently  affirm,  but 
we  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  "establishing"  of  the 
word,  or  the  bringing  it  to  pass.  "Thou  shalt  also 
decree  a  thing,  and  //  shall  be  established  unto  thee** 
it  says.  If  we  decree  or  affirm  unwaveringly,  stead- 
fastly, we  hold  God  by  his  own  unalterable  laws  to 
do  the  establishing  or  fulfilling. 

They  who  have  carefully  studied  spiritual  laws 
find  that  besides  denying  the  reality  and  power  of 


46 


Fourth  Lesson 


apparent  evil,  which  denying  frees  them  from  it,  they 
also  can  bring  any  desired  good  into  their  lives  by 
persistently  affirming  it  is  there  already.  In  the  first 
instructions  given  to  students,  the  denials  and  affir- 
mations take  a  large  place.  Later  on.  their  own  per- 
sonal experiences  and  inward  guidance  lead  them  up 
to  a  higher  plane  where  they  no  longer  need  rules. 

The  saying  over  of  any  denial  or  affirmation  is  a 
necessary  self-training  of  mind  which  has  lived  so 
long  in  error  and  false  beliefs  that  it  needs  this  con- 
stant repetition  of  truth  to  unclothe  it  and  clothe  it 
anew. 

As  it  is  with  the  denials,  so  with  the  affirmations. 
There  are  four  or  five  great  sweeping  affirmations  of 
truth  which  cover  a  multitude  of  lesser  ones,  and 
which  do  marvelous  work  in  bringing  good  to  our- 
selves and  to  others: 

FirsU  God  is  Life,  Love,  Intelligence,  Sub- 
stance, Omnipotence,  Omniscience,  Omnipresence. 

This  you  will  remember  from  the  first  lesson — 
the  Statement  of  Being.  As  you  repeat  the  affirma- 
tion please  remember  that  every  particle  of  life,  of 
love,  intelligence,  power,  or  of  real  substance  in  the 
universe  is  simply  a  certain  degree,  or,  so  to  speak, 
quality)  of  God  made  manifest  or  visible  through  a 


Affirmations 


47 


form.     Try  to  think  what  is  meant  when  you  say 
God  is  omnipresent,  omnipotent,  omniscient. 

If  God  is  omnipresent  (all  presence),  and  is  all 
good,  where  is  the  evil?  If  he  is  omnipotence  (all 
power),  what  other  power  can  there  be  working  in 
the  universe? 

Since  God  is  Omnipotence  and  Omnipresence, 
put  aside  forever  your  traditional  teaching  of  an  ad- 
verse power,  evil  (devil),  that  may  at  any  moment 
thwart  the  plans  of  Good  and  bring  you  harm. 

Do  not  disturb  yourself  about  the  appearances 
of  evil  all  about  you;  but  in  the  very  presence  of 
what  seems  evil  stand  true  and  unwavering  in  affirm- 
ing God,  the  Good,  is  onmipresent,  or  all  there  is 
present.  By  so  doing  you  will  see  the  seeming  evil 
all  melt  away  as  the  darkness  before  the  light  or  the 
dew  before  the  morning  sun,  and  good  come  to  take 
its  place. 

Second,  I  am  a  child  or  manifestation  of  God, 
and  every  moment  his  life,  love,  wisdom,  power  flow 
into  and  through  me.  I  am  one  with  God,  and  am 
governed  by  his  laws. 

Remember  while  repeating  this  affirmation  that 
nothing — no  circumstance,  no  person  or  set  of  per- 
sons— can  by  any  possibility  interpose  between  you 
and  the  Source  of  your  life,  wisdom  or  power.     It 


48 


Fourth  Lesson 


is  all  **hid  with  Christ  [the  innermost  Christ  or  Spirit 
of  your  being]  in  God."  Nothing  but  your  own 
ignorance  of  how  to  receive,  or  your  willfulness,  can 
hinder  you  having  unlimited  supply. 

No  matter  how  sick  or  weak  or  inefficient  you 
seem  to  be,  take  your  eyes  and  thoughts  right  off  the 
seeming  and  turn  them  within  to  the  Central  Foun- 
tain there,  and  say  calmly,  quietly,  but  with  stead- 
fast assurance,  "This  appearance  of  weakness  is 
false;  the  life,  the  wisdom,  the  power,  which  is  God, 
is  now  flowing  into  my  entire  being  and  out  through 
me  to  the  external,"  and  you  will  soon  see  a  marvel- 
ous change  wrought  in  you  by  the  realization  this 
spoken  word  will  bring  to  you. 

You  do  not  change  God's  attitude  towards  you 
one  iota,  by  either  importuning  or  affirming.  You 
only  change  your  attitude  towards  him  who  is  al- 
r»a^s  on  the  giving  hand.  By  thus  affirming  you  put 
yourself  into  harmony  with  the  divine  law,  which 
is  always  working  towards  your  good  and  never  to- 
wards your  harm  or  punishment. 

Third,  I  am  Spirit,  perfect,  holy,  harmonious. 
Nothing  can  hurt  me  or  make  me  sick  or  afraid,  for 
Spirit  is  God,  and  cannot  be  hurt  or  made  sick  or 
afraid.     I  manifest  my  real  Self  through  this  body 


now. 


Affirmations 


49 


Fourth,  God  works  in  me  to  will  and  to  do  what- 
soever he  wishes  me  to  do,  and  he  cannot  fail. 

Affirming  his  mind  working  both  to  will  and  to 
do  makes  us  will  only  the  good;  and  he,  the  very 
Father  in  us,  doeth  the  works,  hence  there  can  be  no 
failure.  Whatsoever  we  fully  commit  to  the  Father 
to  do,  and  affirm  is  done,  we  shall  see  accomplished. 
These,  then,  are  the  four  comprehensive  affirma- 
tions : 

First,  God  is  Life,  Love,  Intelligence,  Sub- 
stance, Omnipotence,  Omnipresence,  Omniscience. 

Second,  I  am  the  child  or  manifestation  of  God; 
and  his  life,  love,  wisdom,  power,  flow  into  and 
through  me  every  moment.  I  am  one  with  God, 
and  am  governed  by  his  law.  ' 

Third,  I  am  Spirit,  perfect,  holy,  harmonious. 
Nothing  can  hurt  me  or  make  me  sick  or  afraid,  for 
Spirit  is  God,  and  God  cannot  be  sick  or  hurt  or 
afraid.     I  manifest  my  real  Self  now. 

Fourth,  God  works  in  me  to  will  and  to  do  what- 
soever he  wishes  done  by  me ;  hence  I  cannot  fail. 

Commit  each  one  of  these  affirmations  to  mem- 
ory, so  that  you  may  repeat  them  in  the  silence  of 
your  own  mind  in  any  place  and  at  any  time. 
Strangely  will  they  act  to  deliver  you  out  of  the 
greatest  external  distresses,  places  where  no  human 


50 


Fourth  Lesson 


help  avails.  It  is  as  though  the  moment  you  assert 
emphatically  your  oneness  with  God  the  Father, 
there  is  instantly  set  in  motion  all  the  power  of  om- 
nipotent love  to  rush  to  your  rescue.  And  when  it 
has  undertaken  for  you,  you  can  cease  from  external 
ways  and  means,  and  boldly  claim,  "It  is  done;  I 
have  the  desires  of  my  heart."  "Thou  openest  thine 
hand,  and  satisfiest  the  desire  of  every  living  thing," 
said  the  Psalmist. 

In  reality  God  is  forever  in  process  of  movement 
toward  us  that  he  may  manifest  more  fully  himself 
(all  good)  through  us.  Our  affirming,  backed  by 
faith,  is  the  grip  which  connects  the  car  of  our  con- 
scious human  need  with  the  ever-moving  cable  of  his 
power  and  supply. 

They  who  have  claimed  their  birthright  by  thus 
calmly  affirming  their  oneness  with  God,  know  how 
still  they  can  be  from  external  planning  and  efforts 
after  they  have  called  into  operation  this  marvelous 
power  by  affirmation.  It  has  healed  the  sick, 
brought  joy  in  place  of  mourning,  literally  opened 
prison  doors,  and  bid  the  prisoner  go  free,  without 
one  particle  of  human  effort  or  assistance. 

Understand,  it  is  not  necessarily  using  just  this 
form  of  words  that  has  availed  in  each  individual 
case;  but  it  has  been  the  denying  of  apparent  evil. 


Affirmations 


51 


and  in  spite  of  all  contrary  evidence  affirming  the 
good  to  be  all  there  is;  affirming  our  oneness  with 
God's  omnipotent  power  to  accomplish,  even  when 
there  were  no  visible  signs  of  his  being  present,  that 
wrought  the  deliverance.  In  one  case  within  my 
knowledge,  just  simply  claiming,  **God  is  your  de- 
fense and  deliverance,"  for  a  man  who  had  been 
five  years  an  exile  from  home  and  country  through  a 
series  of  deceptions  and  machinations  which  for 
depth  and  subtlety  were  unparalleled,  opened  all  the 
doors  wide  and  restored  the  man  to  his  family  within 
a  month,  without  one  single  effort  or  step  taken  from 
the  human  side ;  and  that,  too,  after  five  years  of  the 
most  strenuous  human  efforts  of  lawyers,  etc.,  having 
failed  utterly  to  bring  the  truth  to  light  or  to  release 
the  prisoner. 

Some  minds  are  so  constituted  as  to  get  better 
results  from  repeated  use  of  denials;  others  from 
using  denials  less  and  affirmations  more. 

No  definite  rules  can  be  laid  down  as  to  which 
will  work  most  effectually  in  each  individual  case 
to  eradicate  apparent  evil  and  bring  into  manifesta- 
tion the  good.  But  some  little  hint  can  be  given 
which  may  be  helpful. 

Denials  have  an  erasive  or  destructive  tendency. 
Affirmations  build  up,  and  give  strength  and  cour- 


52 


Fourth  Lesson 


age  and  power.  People  who  remember  vividly,  and 
are  inclined  to  dwell  in  their  thoughts  on  the  pains, 
sorrows  and  troubles  of  the  past  or  present,  need  to 
deny  a  great  deal ;  for  denials  cleanse  the  mind  and 
blot  out  of  memory  all  seeming  evils  and  unhappi- 
ness,  so  that  they  become  as  a  far-away  dream. 
Again,  denials  are  particularly  useful  to  those  who 
are  hard  or  intolerant,  or  aggressively  sinful ;  to  those 
who,  as  a  result  of  success,  have  become  over-con- 
fident, thinking  the  mortal  is  sufficient  of  itself  for  all 
things ;  to  the  selfish,  and  to  any  who  do  not  scruple 
to  harm  others. 

Affirmations  should  be  used  by  the  timid  and 
those  who  have  a  feeling  of  their  own  inefficiency; 
those  who  stand  in  fear  of  other  minds;  those  who 
"give  in"  easily;  those  who  are  subject  to  anxiety 
or  doubt,  and  those  who  are  in  positions  of  responsi- 
bility. The  people  who  are  in  any  way  negative  or 
passive  need  to  use  affirmations  more ;  the  ones  who 
are  self-confident  or  unforgiving,  need  denials  more. 
Deny  evil;  affirm  good.  Deny  weakness;  affirm 
strength.  Deny  any  undesirable  condition,  and  af- 
firm the  good  you  desire.  This  is  what  Jesus  meant 
when  he  said,  "What  things  soever  ye  desire,  when 
ye  pray,  believe  [or  claim  or  affirm]  that  ye  receive 
them,  and  ye  shall  have  them"  (Mark  1 1 :24).    It 


Affirmations 


53 


is  what  is  meant  by  the  promise,  "Every  place  that 
the  sole  of  your  foot  shall  tread  upon  [or  that  you 
stand  squarely  and  firmly  upon] ,  that  have  I  given 

you." 

Practice  these  denials  and  affirmations  silently 
on  the  street,  in  the  cars,  when  you  are  wakeful  dur- 
ing the  night,  anywhere,  everywhere,  and  it  will  give 
you  a  new,  and,  to  you,  strange  mastery  over  ex- 
ternal things  and  over  yourself.  If  there  comes  a 
moment  when  you  are  in  doubt  as  to  what  to  do, 
stand  still  and  affirm,  "God  in  me  is  Infinite  Wis- 
dom; I  know  just  what  to  do."  'Tor  I  will  give  you 
a  mouth  and  wisdom,  which  all  your  adversaries 
shall  not  be  able  to  gainsay  nor  resist."  Do  not  get 
flustered  nor  anxious,  but  depend  fully  and  trust- 
ingly on  your  principle,  and  you  will  be  surprised 
at  the  sudden  inspiration  which  will  come  to  you  as 
to  the  mode  of  procedure. 

So  always  this  principle  will  work  in  the  solution 
of  all  life's  problems — I  care  not  what  the  form  of 
detail  is — to  free  us,  God's  children,  from  all  un- 
desirable conditions,  and  to  bring  good  into  our  lives, 
if  we  will  take  up  the  simple  rules  and  use  them 
faithfully,  until  they  lead  us  into  such  realization  of 
our  Godhood  that  we  need  no  longer  depend  upon 
them. 


FAITH 

FIFTH   LESSON 

For  verily  I  say  unto  you.  That  whosoever  shall  say 
unto  this  mountain.  Be  thou  removed,  and  be  thou  cast  into 
the  sea;  and  shall  not  doubt  in  his  heart,  but  shall  believe 
that  those  things  which  he  saith  shall  come  to  pass ;  he  shall 
have  whatsoever  he  saith. — Mark  11 :23. 

Science  was  Faith  once. — Lowell, 

The  word  "faith"  is  one  which  has  generally 
been  thought  to  denote  a  simple  form  of  belief  based 
mostly  upon  ignorance  and  superstition.  It  is  a  word 
that  has  drawn  forth  something  akin  to  scorn  from 
so-called  "thinking  people"— the  people  who  have 
believed  that  intellectual  attainment  was  the  highest 
form  of  knowledge  to  be  reached.  "Blind  faith" 
they  have  disdainfully  chosen  to  call  it — fit  only  for 
ministers,  women  and  children,  but  not  a  practical 
thing  upon  which  to  establish  the  everyday  business 

affairs  of  life. 

Some  have  prided  themselves  on  having  out- 
grown the  swaddling  clothes  of  this  blind,  unreason- 
ing faith,  and  grown  up  to  the  place,  as  they  say, 
where  they  have  faith  only  in  that  which  can  be  seen 
and  handled,  or  intellectually  explained. 

54 


Faith 


55 


St.  Paul,  a  most  intellectual  man.  and  a  learned 
theologian,  after  having  written  at  length  upon  the 
nature  of  faith  and  the  marvelous  results  attending 
it,  tried  to  put  into  a  few  words  a  condensed  defini- 
tion of  faith: 

"Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the 
evidence  of  things  not  seen."  said  he. — Heb.  11:1. 

In  other  words,  faith  takes  right  hold  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  things  desired,  and  brings  into  the 
world  of  evidence  the  things  which  before  were 
not  seen.  Further  speaking  of  faith.  Paul  says: 
"Things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things 
which  do  appear;"  I  e..  things  which  are  seen  are 
not  made  out  of  visible  things,  but  out  of  the  invis- 
ible. In  some  way.  then,  we  understand  that  what- 
ever we  want  is  in  this  surrounding  invisible  Sub- 
stance, and  faith  is  the  power  which  can  bring  it  out 
into  reality  to  us.    Please  remember  this. 

After  having  related  innumerable  instances  of 
marvelous  things  brought  to  pass  in  the  lives  of  men, 
not  by  their  work  or  efforts,  but  by  faith.  Paul  says : 

"And  what  shall  I  more  say?  for  the  time  would  fail 
me  to  tell  of  Gedeon,  and  of  Barak,  and  of  Samson,  and  of 
Jephthae;  of  David  also,  and  Samuel,  and  of  the  prophets: 

•*Who  tfirough  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  right- 
eousness, obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions. 

"Quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of 


56 


Fifth  Lesson 


the  sword,  out  of  the  weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed 
valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens. 

"Women  received  their  dead  to  life  again,'*  etc. — 
Hebrews    11:32-35. 

Is  there  any  more  power  or  anything  greater  you 
want  in  your  life  than  is  here  mentioned  by  Paul? 
Power  to  subdue  kingdoms,  to  stop  the  mouths  of 
lions,  quench  fire,  turn  to  flight  whole  armies,  raise 
your  dead  to  life  again?  Even  if  your  desires  ex- 
ceed this,  you  need  not  despair  or  hesitate  to  claim 
their  fulfillment,  for  One  greater  than  I,  One  who 
knew  whereof  he  spoke,  said,  *To  him  that  be- 
lieveth,  all  things  are  possible." 

Until  very  recently,  whenever  any  one  has  spo- 
ken of  faith  as  the  one  power  which  could  move 
mountains  (or  move  God,  which  was  still  more  dif- 
ficult) ,  we  have  always  felt  a  sort  of  hopeless  dis- 
couragement. While  we  have  believed  that  God 
holds  all  good  things  in  his  hand,  and  is  willing  to  be 
prevailed  upon  to  dole  them  out  "according  to  your 
faith,"  yet  how  could  we,  even  by  straining  every 
nerve  of  our  being  towards  faith,  be  sure  that  we 
have  sufficient  to  please  him?  For  does  it  not  say. 
"Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God"? 

From  the  moment  we  began  to  ask  we  began  to 
question  our  ability  to  reach  God's  standard  of  faith 
upon  which  hung  our  fate.    We  also  began  to  feel 


Faith 


57 


rather  shaky  about  whether,  after  all,  there  is  any 
such  power  in  faith  to  prevail  with  the  Giver  of  every 
good  gift  as  to  draw  out  of  him  something  which  he 
had  never  let  us  have  before. 

Viewing  faith  in  this  light,  it  isn't  much  wonder 
that  logical  minds  have  looked  upon  it  as  a  sort  of 
will-o'-the-wisp,  good  enough  for  weak  women  and 
silly  children  to  hang  their  hopes  upon,  but  not  a 
thing  upon  which  any  real,  definite  results  could  ever 
be  counted — not  a  thing  that  the  business  world 
could  rest  upon. 

There  is  a  "blind  faith,"  to  be  sure.  (Some  one 
has  truthfully  said  that  blind  faith  is  better  than 
none  at  all ;  for  if  held  to,  it  will  get  its  eyes  open 
after  a  time.)  But  there  is  also  an  understanding 
faith.  Blind  faith  is  an  instinctive  trust  in  a  power 
higher  than  ourselves.  Understanding  faith  is  based 
upon  immutable  principle. 

Faith  does  not  depend  upon  physical  facts,  or 
evidence  of  the  senses,  because  it  is  born  of  intuition, 
or  the  Spirit  of  Truth  ever  living  at  the  center  of 
our  being.  Its  action  is  infinitely  higher  than  that  of 
intellectual  conclusions;  it  is  founded  on  Truth. 

Intuition  is  the  open  end,  rvithin  one's  own  being, 
of  the  invisible  channel  ever  connecting  each  indi- 
vidual rvith  God.    Faith  is,  as  it  were,  a  ray  of  light 


58 


Fifth  Lesson 


shot  out  from  the  Central  Sun— God— the  farther 
end  of  which  ray  comes  into  your  being  and  mine 
through  the  open  door  of  intuition.  With  our  con- 
sciousness we  perceive  the  ray  of  light,  and  though 
intellect  cannot  grasp  it,  or  give  the  why  or  where- 
fore thereof,  yet  we  instinctively  feel  that  the  other 
end  of  the  ray  opens  out  into  all  there  is  of  God 
(Good).  This  is  "blind"  faith.  It  is  based  on 
truth,  but  a  truth  which  we  are  not  at  the  time  con- 
scious of.  Even  this  kind  of  faith  will,  if  persisted 
in,  bring  the  desired  results. 

Now,  what  is  understanding  faith?  There  are 
some  things  which  God  has  so  indissolubly  joined 
together  that  it  is  impossible  for  even  himself  to  put 
them  asunder.  They  are  bound  together  by  fixed, 
immutable  laws.    If  we  have  one,  we  must  have  the 

other. 

Evans  illustrates  this  by  the  laws  of  geometry. 
For  instance,  if  we  have  a  triangle,  the  sum  of  all 
the  angles  is  equal  to  two  right  angles.  No  matter 
how  large  or  small  the  triangle,  no  matter  whether 
it  is  made  on  the  mountain  top  or  leagues  under  the 
sea,  if  we  are  asked  the  sum  of  its  angles  we  can  un- 
hesitatingly answer,  without  waiting  an  instant  to 
count  or  reckon  this  particular  triangle,  that  it  is 
just  two  right  angles.    This  is  absolutely  certain.    It 


Faith 


59 


is  certain  before  even  the  triangle  is  drawn  by  visible 
lines;  and  we  can  know  it  beforehand,  because  it  is 
based  upon  immutable,  unchangeable  laws,  upon  the 
truth  or  reality  of  the  thing.  It  was  true  just  as 
much  before  any  one  ever  recognized  it  as  it  is  today. 
People  knowing  it  or  not  knowing  it  does  not  change 
the  fact.  Onl})  just  in  proportion  as  we  come  to 
know  it  as  an  eternally  true  fact  can  we  be  benefited 

fep  it. 

It  is  a  simple  fact  that  one  plus  one  makes  two ; 
it  is  an  eternal  truth.  You  cannot  put  one  and  one 
together  without  the  two  resulting.  You  may  be- 
lieve it  or  not;  that  does  not  alter  the  fact.  But 
unless  you  do  put  the  one  and  one  together  you 
cannot  produce  the  two,  for  one  is  eternally  depend- 
ent upon  the  other. 

There  are  in  the  mental  and  spiritual  worlds,  or 
realms,  just  as  real  and  unfailing  laws  for  their  gov- 
ernment as  in  the  natural  world.  There  are  certain 
conditions  of  mind  which  are  so  connected  with  cer- 
tain results  that  the  two  are  inseparable.  If  we  have 
the  one,  we  must  have  the  other,  as  surely  as  the 
night  follows  the  day.  Not  because  we  believe  some 
wise  person's  testimony  that  such  is  the  case,  not 
even  because  the  voice  of  intuition  tells  us  it  is  so. 


60 


Fifth  Lesson 


Faith 


61 


but  because  the  whole  matter  is  based  on  laws  which 
can  neither  fail  nor  be  broken. 

When  we  know  something  of  these  laws,  we  can 
know  positively  beforehand  just  what  results  will 
follow  certain  mental  states. 

God,  the  one  creative  cause  of  all  things,  is 
Spirit,  and  visible  to  spiritual  consciousness,  as  we 
have  learned.  God  is  the  sum  total  of  all  good. 
There  is  no  good  you  can  desire  in  your  life  but 
what  at  its  center  it  is  God.  God  is  the  Substance 
of  all  things— the  real  thing  within  every  visible 

form  of  good. 

God,  the  invisible  Substance  out  of  which  all 
visible  things  are  formed,  is  all  around  us  waiting  to 
come  forth  into  visible  manifestation. 

This  Good  Substance  all  about  us  is  unlimited, 
and  is  itself  the  supply  of  everp  demand  that  can  he 
made;  of  every  need  that  exists  in  the  visible  or  nat- 
ural world. 

One  of  the  unerring  truths  or  facts  in  the  universe 
(by  "universe"  I  mean  the  spiritual  and  natural 
worlds  combined)  is  that  somervhere  there  is  already 
provided  a  lavish  abundance  for  every  human  want 
In  other  words,  the  supply  of  every  good  always 
somewhere  awaits  the  demand.  Another  truth,  or 
fact,  is  that  the  demand  must  be  made  before  the 


supply  can  come  forth  to  fill  it.  To  recognize  these 
two  statements  of  truth,  and  to  affirm  them,  is  the 
whole  secret  of  understanding  faith — faith  based  on 
principle  or  understanding. 

Let  us  square  this  by  Paul's  definition  of  faith, 
given  earlier  in  the  lesson,  "Faith  is  the  substance  of 
things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen." 
Faith  takes  hold  of  the  substance  of  the  thing  hoped 
for,  and  brings  into  evidence,  or  visibility,  the  things 
not  seen. 

What  are  usually  called  the  promises  of  God  are 
certain  eternal,  unchangeable  truths,  that  are  true 
whether  they  are  found  in  the  Bible  or  the  almanac. 
They  are  the  unvarying  statement  of  facts  which 
cannot  be  altered.  A  promise,  according  to  Web- 
ster, is  something  sent  beforehand  to  indicate  that 
something  unseen  is  at  hand.  It  is  a  declaration 
which  gives  the  person  to  whom  it  is  made  the  right 
to  expect  and  claim  the  performance  of  the  act. 

When  the  Nazarene,  who  had  recognized  the 
unchangeable  fact  that  the  supply  of  every  want 
awaited,  in  the  unseen,  the  demand  for  it,  said,  "If 
ye  ask,  ye  receive,"  he  was  simply  stating  an  unalter- 
able truth.  He  had  learned  enough  of  spiritual  law 
to  know  that  the  instant  we  ask  or  desire  (for  asking 
is  desire  expressed)  we  touch  a  secret  spring  which 


62 


Fifth  Lesson 


starts  the  good  we  want  on  its  way  towards  us.  He 
knew  that  there  need  not  be  any  coaxing  or  pleading 
about  it;  that  our  asking  was  simply  complying  with 
an  unfailing  law  which  was  bound  to  work;  there 
was  no  escape  from  it.  Asking  and  receiving  are  the 
two  ends  of  one  and  the  same  thing.  We  cannot 
have  one  without  the  other. 

Asking  springs  from  desire  to  possess  some  good. 
What  is  desire?    Desire  in  the  heart  is  alrvays  God 
tapping  at  the  door  of  your  consciousness  with  his 
infinite  supply— ^^  supply  which  is  forever  useless 
unless  there  be  demand  for  it.     "Before  they  call, 
I  will  answer"  (Isaiah  65:24).     Before  ever  you 
are  conscious  of  any  lack,  of  any  desire  for  more 
happiness,   for  fullness  of  joy,  the  great  Father- 
Mother  heart  has  desired  them  for  you.    It  is  he  de- 
siring them  in  you  that  you  feel,  and  think  it  is  only 
yourself  (separate  from  him)  desiring  them.    With 
God  the  desire  to  give  and  giving  are  one  and  the 
same  thing.    Evans  says,  "Desire  for  anything  is  the 
thing  itself  in  incipiency;"  i.  e.,  the  thing  you  desire 
is  not  only  for  you,  but  has  already  been  started  to- 
wards you  out  of  the  heart  of  God;  and  if  is  the  first 
little  approach  of  the  thing  itself  striking  Vou  that 
makes  you  desire  it,  or  even  think  of  it  at  all. 
The  only  way  God  has  of  letting  us  know  of  his 


Faith 


63 


infinite  supply,  and  his  desire  to  make  it  ours,  is  for 
him  to  gently  push  upon  this  little  divine  spark  living 
within  each  one  of  us.  He  wants  you  to  be  a  strong, 
self-efficient  man  or  woman,  to  have  more  power  and 
dominion  over  all  before  you;  so  he  quietly  and  si- 
lently pushes  a  little  more  of  himself,  his  desire,  into 
the  center  of  your  being.  He  enlarges,  so  to  speak, 
your  real  Self,  and  at  once  you  become  conscious  of 
new  desire  to  be  bigger,  grander,  stronger.  If  he 
had  not  pushed  at  the  center  of  your  being  first,  you 
would  never  have  thought  of  it,  but  would  have  re- 
mained perfectly  content  as  you  were. 

You  think  you  want  better  health,  more  love,  a 
brighter,  more  cheerful  home  all  your  very  own;  in 
short,  you  want  less  evil  (or  no  evil)  and  more  good 
in  your  life.  This  is  only  God  pushing  at  the  inner 
door  of  your  being,  saying,  "My  child,  let  me  in;  I 
want  to  give  you  all  good,  that  you  may  be  more 
comfortable  and  happy."  "Behold,  my  servants 
shall  eat;  behold,  my  servants  shall  drink;  behold, 
my  servants  shall  build  houses  and  inhabit  them ;  be- 
hold, my  servants  shall  rejoice  and  sing  for  joy  of 
heart." 

Remember  this:  Desire  in  the  heart  for  any- 
thing is  God*s  sure  promise  sent  beforehand  to  indi- 
cate that  it  is  ^ours  already  in  the  limitless  realm  of 


64 


Fifth  Lesson 


supply ;  and  whatever  you  want,  you  can  have  for 

the  taking.  , 

Taking  is  simply  recognizing  the  law  of  supply 
and  demand  (even  if  you  cannot  see  with  this  mortal 
understanding  a  sign  of  the  supply  any  more  than 
Elijah  did  when  he  had  affirmed  for  ram,  and  not  a 
cloud  even  so  big  as  a  man's  hand  was  for  a  long 
time  to  be  seen) .  Affirm  your  possession  of  the  good 
you  desire;  have  faith  in  it,  because  you  are  workmg 
on  law  and  cannot  fail ;  do  not  be  argued  off  your 
basic  principle  by  any  one;  and  sooner  will  the  heav- 
ens fall  than  that  you  fail  to  get  that  which  you 

Qcsirc* 

"All  things  whatsoever  ye  pray  and  ask  for.  be- 
lieve that  ye  receive  them,  and  ye  shall  have  them." 

—Mark  1 1  :24,  R.  V.  ,  ,    , 

Knowing  the  law  of  abundant  supply,  and  the 
fact  that  supply  always  precedes  the  demand,  de- 
mand simply  being  the  call  which  brings  the  supply 
into  sight;  knowing  that  all  desire  in  the  heart  for 
any  good  is  really  God's  desire  in  us  and  for  us, 
how  shall  we  obtain  the  fulfillment  of  our  every  de- 
sire, and  that  right  speedily? 

"Delight  thyself  in  the  Lord ;  and  he  shall  give 
thee  the  desire  of  thine  heart"  (Psa.  37 :4) .  Take 
right  hold  of  God  with  an  unwavering  faith.    Begm 


Faith 


65 


and  continue  to  rejoice  and  thank  him  that  you  have 
(not  will  have)  the  desires  of  your  heart,  never  los- 
ing sight  of  the  fact  that  the  desire  is  the  thing  itself 
in  incipience.  If  the  good  were  not  already  yours 
in  the  invisible  realm  of  supply,  you  could  not  by  any 
possibility  desire  it. 

One  asks,  "Suppose  I  desire  my  neighbor's  wife, 
or  his  property;  is  that  desire  born  of  God?  And 
can  I  see  it  fulfilled  by  affirming  that  it  is  mine?" 

You  do  not  and  cannot  by  any  possibility  desire 
that  which  belongs  to  another.  You  do  not  desire 
your  neighbor's  wife.  You  desire  the  love  which 
seems  to  you  to  be  represented  by  your  neighbor's 
wife.  You  desire  something  to  fill  your  heart,  crav- 
ing for  love.  Affirm  that  there  is  for  you  a  rightful 
and  an  overflowing  supply,  and  claim  its  manifesta- 
tion. It  will  surely  come,  and  your  desire  (?)  to 
possess  your  neighbor's  wife  will  suddenly  disappear. 

So  you  do  not  in  reality  desire  anything  which 
belongs  to  your  neighbor.  You  want  the  equivalent 
of  that  for  which  his  possessions  stand.  You  want 
your  own.  There  is  today  an  unlimited  supply  of 
all  good  provided  in  the  unseen  for  every  human  be- 
ing. No  man  must  needs  have  less  that  another  may 
have  more.    Your  very  own  awaits  you.    Your  un- 


66 


Fifth  Lesson 


derstanding  faith  and  trust  is  the  power  which  will 
bring  it  to  you. 

As  Emerson  says,  "The  man  who  knows  the 
law  is  sure  that  his  welfare  is  dear  to  the  heart  of 
Being;  he  believes  that  he  cannot  escape  from  his 

good." 

Knowing  the  divine  law,  we  can  forever  rest 
from  all  anxiety,  all  fear,  for  **He  openeth  his  hand, 
and  satisfieth  the  desire  of  every  living  creature." 


DEFINITION   OF   TERMS   USED   IN 
METAPHYSICAL  TEACHINGS 

SIXTH    LESSON 

One  of  the  greatest  beauties  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  is  the  perfectly  childlike  simplicity  of  its 
language.  Every  child  and  every  grown  person,  be 
they  ever  so  illiterate,  if  they  can  read  at  all,  can 
understand  it.  Not  a  word  in  it  requires  the  use  of 
a  dictionary;  not  a  sentence  in  it  but  that  tells  the 
way  so  plainly  that  a  "wayfarer  though  a  fool  may 
not  err  therein."  And  yet  the  Nazarene  was  the 
fullest,  most  complete  manifestation  of  the  One 
Mind  that  ever  lived ;  that  is  to  say,  more  of  the  wis- 
dom, which  is  God,  came  forth  through  him  into 
visibility  than  through  any  one  else  who  ever  lived. 
So  it  has  always  been.  The  more  any  person  mani- 
fests the  true  wisdom,  which  is  God,  the  more  simple 
are  his  ways  of  thinking  and  acting;  the  more  simple 
are  the  words  through  which  he  expresses  his  ideas. 
The  greater  the  truth  to  be  expressed,  the  more  sim- 
ply can  it  (and  should  it)  be  clothed. 

Emerson  said,  "Converse  with  a  mind  that  is 
grandly  simple,  and  all  literature    [high-sounding 

67 


68 


Sixth  Lesson 


sentences  to  convey  ideas]  looks  like  mere  word 
catching." 

In  the  metaphysical  literature  of  today  a  good 
many  terms  are  used  which  are  very  confusing  to 
those  who  have  not  taken  a  consecutive  course  of 
lessons  on  the  subject.  It  seems  to  me  wise  to  give 
just  here  a  clear,  simple  explanation  of  certain  words 
frequently  used,  so  that  even  the  most  unlearned  may 
read  understandingly. 

You  will  often  see  the  words,  "Thought  trans- 
ference." This  simply  means  the  sending  of  thought 
from  one  person's  mind  to  another  without  using 
either  written  or  audible  spoken  words.  TTiere  was 
a  time  when,  in  order  to  communicate  with  any  one 
not  in  our  presence,  our  thoughts  must  be  laboriously 
written  dowTi  on  paper  and  carried  from  one  to  an- 
other. Then,  in  the  progress  of  things,  came  a  time 
when  the  Spirit  within  a  certain  man  revealed  to  the 
intellect  of  that  man  that  a  subtle  fluid  which  was 
not  tangible,  could  neither  be  seen  nor  handled, 
called  "electricity,"  could  be  used  to  convey  a  mes- 
sage from  point  to  point  if  it  only  had  a  connecting 
wire  between  the  two  points  on  which  to  run,  with 
proper  batteries  at  each  end  of  the  wire  to  keep  up 
the  supply  of  electricity. 

More  recently,  scientific  people  are  learning  that 


Definition  of  Terms 


69 


they  can  dispense  with  the  batteries  and  the  con- 
necting wire  between  two  points,  and  can  so  pro- 
ject the  silent  thought  of  their  own  minds  out  through 
space  to  another  mind,  that  the  latter  can  inwardly 
hear  or  receive  the  message;  as  we  say,  the  other 
mind  "catches  the  thought."  It  is  a  sort  of  mental 
telegraphy,  and  is  called  "telepathy." 

You  have  no  moral  right  to  use  the  power  of 
thought  transference  in  order  to  cause  any  one  to 
carry  out  any  plan  which  you  may  make  for  that 
one.  You  may  think  your  neighbor  rich,  and  may 
silently  send  him  thoughts  to  give  something  to  some 
good  cause  in  which  you  are  interested,  or  to  some 
poor  person,  justifying  yourself  by  saying,  "That  is 
not  selfish;  I  do  not  want  him  to  give  to  me,  and  it 
must  be  right  for  me  to  help  others."  You  may  feel 
justified  in  silently  sending  your  thought  into  another 
one's  mind  to  cause  him  to  go  to  prayer  meeting,  or 
some  other  good  place,  because  you  desire  him  to 
lead  a  moral,  upright  life.  Beware  how  you  use 
this  power  of  thought  transference  on  your  neighbor 
for  any  such  specific  purpose,  though  it  may  seem  to 
your  mortal  mind  as  though  the  thing  you  want  him 
to  do  is  the  only  right  thing  for  him.  You  cannot 
know,  for  only  the  Spirit  within  a  man  can  know  for 
himself.    You  have  no  right  to  interpose  yourself  be- 


70 


Sixth  Lesson 


tween  him  and  the  God  in  his  own  soul;  no  right 
to  steal  silently  into  the  inner  portals  of  his  being  to 
turn  him  one  way  or  the  other.  If  you  do  so,  re- 
member the  wrong  you  thus  do  another  will  invari- 
ably react  upon  yourself. 

The  only  right  you  have  to  use  the  law  of 
thought  transference  on  cinother  is  to  call  out  the 
Divine  Self  of  him,  saying  to  him  silently  something 
like  this:  "God  lives  in  you;  he  guides  all  your 
actions ;  he  leads  you  where  he  would  have  you  go ; 
he  works  in  you  to  will  and  to  do  whatsoever  he 
would  have  you  to  do,"  etc.;  and  then  let  the  ex- 
ternal manifestation  be  what  it  will,  believing  that 
it  is  just  what  God  would  have  it  for  the  present, 
even  if  it  is  exactly  the  opposite  of  what  you  had 
planned. 

Another  term  often  used,  and  not  always  clearly 
understood,  is  "chemicalization." 

Did  you  ever  put  soda  in  sour  milk,  cider  or 
other  acid  fluid  and  witness  the  agitation  or  excited 
action  which  takes  place?  One  of  the  substances 
neutralizes  the  other,  and  something  better  results 
from  the  action. 

This  is  a  good  illustration  of  what  takes  place 
sometimes  in  the  minds  and  bodies  of  people.  Sup- 
pose one  has  lived  in  wrong  thought,  and  molded 


Definition  of  Terms 


71 


his  body  by  wrong  thought  for  years,  until,  as  you 
might  say,  he  has  become  solidified  in  that  wrong 
belief.  You  introduce  the  truth  to  him  by  strong 
denials  and  affirmations  as  has  been  taught.  The 
very  newness  of  it  (and  because  it  is  truth)  creates 
the  first  few  days  new  hope,  new  joy  and  health. 
After  a  little  time  a  sort  of  mental  ferment  or  agi- 
tation takes  place.  One  is  apt  to  feel  very  nervous 
and  frightened  away  down  in  the  depths  of  him- 
self. If  he  has  ever  been  sick,  he  will  begin  to  feel 
the  old  diseases;  if  he  has  been  morally  bad,  the  old 
desires  and  habits  will  take  possession  of  him  with 
new  force;  if  he  has  been  holding  denials  and  affir- 
mations about  business  affairs  until  they  have  looked 
hopeful,  all  at  once  they  collapse  and  seem  darker 
and  more  hopeless  than  ever.  All  the  new  beliefs 
which  lifted  him  into  a  new  world  for  a  few  days 
seem  failures,  and  he  seems  on  the  very  verge  of 
breaking  up  generally. 

What  has  happened?  Why,  simply  this: 
There  has  been  a  clash  between  the  old  condition — 
which  was  based  on  falsehood,  fear  and  wrong  ways 
of  thinking — and  the  new  thought  or  truth  entering 
into  him.  The  old  mortal  is  kicking  vigorously 
against  the  truth.  He  has  a  feeling  of  discourage- 
ment or  fear — a  feeling  such  as  one  would  have 


72 


Sixth  Lesson 


if  caught  at  something  disreputable.  He  should  not 
be  frightened.  That  which  he  feels  is,  on  the  men- 
tal plane,  a  similar  excitement  and  agitation  to  that 
which  was  seen  in  the  chemical  action  between  the 
alkali  and  acid  on  the  material  plane,  and  something 
higher  and  better  alrvays  results. 

This  agitation  does  not  always  take  place  with 
every  one,  but  is  most  apt  to  occur  with  those  who 
have  been  most  fixed,  and,  as  it  were,  solidified  in 
the  old  beliefs.  Such  people  break  up  with  more 
resistance.  Those  who  are  not  very  settled  in  their 
convictions  are  more  malleable  mentally  and  phys- 
ically, and  are  not  so  apt  to  chemicalize.  Vigorous 
use  of  denials  is  also  more  apt  to  produce  chemical- 
ization than  is  the  use  of  affirmations.  There  is  al- 
ways less  resistance  by  the  mortal  when  it  is  gently 
led  into  the  truth  than  when  its  errors  are  directly 
and  vigorously  combated.  Should  you  find  yourself 
at  any  time  in  this  state  of  internal  excitement  with 
aggravation  of  old,  bad  conditions,  it  needs  only  that 
you  constantly  affirm,  **There  is  nothing  to  fear, 
absolutely  nothing  to  fear;  perfect  love  reigns,  and 
all  is  good;  peace,  be  still,"  etc.,  and  very  soon  the 
brighter  conditions  will  appear  and  you  will  find 
yourself  on  a  much  higher  plane  than  you  have  ever 
been  before. 


Definition  of  Terms 


73 


Do  not  be  afraid  of  this  word  (or  the  condition) 
"chemicalization,"  as  many  have  been,  for  truly 
there  is  nothing  to  fear  in  it. 

The  words  "personality"  and  "individuality" 
are  two  words  which  present  clearly  distinct  mean- 
ings to  the  trained  mind,  but  to  the  untrained  mind 
they  are  often  used  interchangeably  and  apart  from 
their  real  meaning. 

"Personality"  applies  to  the  mortal  part  of  you 
— the  mortal  mind,  the  person,  the  external.  It  be- 
longs to  the  region  governed  by  the  intellect.  Your 
personality  may  be  agreeable  or  disagreeable  to 
others.  When  you  say  you  dislike  any  one,  you 
mean  you  dislike  his  personality — that  exterior  some- 
thing which  presents  itself  to  us  from  the  outside  of 
any  one.  It  is  the  outer,  changeable  man,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  inner  or  real  man. 

"Individuality"  is  the  term  used  to  denote  the 
real  man.  The  more  God  comes  out  into  visibility 
through  a  person  the  more  individualized  he  be- 
comes. By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  one's  individual- 
ity is  greater  when  he  is  more  religious.  Remember 
God  is  Wisdom,  Intelligence,  Love,  Power,  etc. 
The  more  pronounced  manner  in  which  any  one  of 
these  qualities — or  all  of  them — comes  forth  into  vis- 
ibility through  a  man,  the  greater  his  individuality. 


74 


Sixth  Lesson 


Emerson  was  a  man  of  large  individuality,  but 
small  personality.  He  was  grandly  simple.  He 
was  of  a  shrinking,  retiring  nature  (or  personality). 
But  just  in  proportion  as  the  mortal  of  him  was  will- 
ing to  retire  and  be  thought  little  of,  did  the  im- 
mortal, the  God  in  him,  shine  forth  in  greater  degree. 

John  the  Baptist,  who  represents  personality  or 
the  mortal,  said  in  speaking  of  Jesus,  who  represents 
individuality  or  the  divine,  "He  must  increase,  but 
I  must  decrease." 

One's  individuality  is  that  part  of  him  which 
never  changes  its  identity.  It  is  that  which  dis- 
tinguishes one  person  from  another.  One's  person- 
ality may  become  like  that  of  others  with  whom  he 
associates.     Individuality  never  changes. 

Do  not  confound  the  terms.  One  may  have  an 
aggressive,  pronounced  personality,  or  external  man, 
which  will,  for  a  time,  fight  its  way  through  ob- 
stacles and  gain  its  point.  But  a  pronounced  indi- 
viduality never  battles;  it  is  never  puffed  up;  it  is 
never  governed  by  likes  or  dislikes  or  causes  them 
in  others;  it  is  God  come  forth  in  greater  degree 
through  the  soul  of  man,  and  all  mere  personality 
instinctively  bends  the  knee  before  it  in  recognition 
of  its  superiority. 

We  cultivate  individuality  by  listening  to  the 


Definition  of  Terms 


75 


voice  down  deep  within  our  own  soul,  and  boldly 
following  it,  even  if  it  does  make  us  differ  from 
others,  as  it  surely  will.  We  cultivate  personality, 
in  which  lives  pride,  fear  of  criticism,  and  all  man- 
ner of  selfishness,  by  listening  to  the  voices  outside 
of  ourselves,  and  being  governed  by  selfish  motives 
instead  of  by  the  highest  within  us.  Seek  always 
to  cultivate,  or  bring  into  visibility,  individuality,  but 
never  personality.  In  proportion  as  one  increases, 
the  other  must  decrease. 

Whenever  we  fear  any  one,  or  shrink  before 
him,  it  is  because  his  personality,  being  the  stronger, 
overcomes  ours.  Many  timid  souls  go  through  life 
always  feeling  that  they  are  inefficient,  that  others 
are  wiser  or  better  than  they.  They  dread  to  meet 
a  positive,  self-conceited  person;  and  when  in  the 
presence  of  such  a  one  they  are  laid  low,  just  as 
a  field  of  tall  wheat  is  after  a  fierce  windstorm  has 
swept  across  it.  They  feel  as  though  they  would 
like  to  get  out  of  sight  forever. 

All  this,  dear  timid  ones,  is  not  because  your 
fellow  really  is  wiser  or  better  than  you,  but  be- 
cause his  personality — the  external,  mortal  man — 
is  stronger  than  yours.  You  never  have  a  similar 
feeling  in  the  presence  of  strong  individuality.  In- 
dividuality in  another  not  only  produces  in  you  an 


76 


Sixth  Lesson 


admiration  for  its  superiority,  but  it  also  gives  you, 
when  in  its  presence,  a  strange  new  sense  of  your 
own  inherent  possibilities,  which  sense  is  full  of  ex- 
hilaration and  comfort  and  encouragement  to  you. 
This  is  because  a  pronounced  individuality  simply 
means  more  of  God  come  forth  into  visibility  through 
the  person,  and  by  some  mental  process  it  has  f)ower 
to  call  forth  more  of  God  through  you. 

Now,  if  you  want  to  know  how  to  avoid  being 
overcome  and  thrown  off  your  feet  by  the  strong 
personality  of  others,  I  will  tell  you: 

Always  remember  that  personality  is  of  the  mor- 
iaU  and  individuality)  is  of  Cod.  Silently  affirm 
your  own  individuality,  your  oneness  with  God,  and 
your  superiority  to  personality.  Can  God  fear  any 
person? 

If  you  are  naturally  inclined  to  be  timid  or 
shrinking,  make  a  practice  of  doing  this  until  you 
overcome  it :  As  you  walk  down  the  street  and  see 
any  one  coming  toward  you,  even  a  stranger  to  you, 
silently  afiirm,  **I  am  a  part  of  God  in  visibility;  I 
am  one  with  the  Father;  this  person  has  no  power 
over  me,  for  I  am  superior  to  all  personality,"  etc. 
Cultivate  this  habit  of  thinking  and  affirming  when- 
ever you  approach  any  person,  and  you  will  soon 
find  that  no  personality,  however  strong  and  aggres- 


Definition  of  Terms 


11 


sive,  has  the  power  to  throw  you  out  of  the  most  per- 
fect self-poise.  You  will  be  self-possessed  because 
God-possessed. 

Some  years  ago  I  found  myself  under  a  sense  of 
bondage  to  a  strong,  aggressive  personality  with 
whom,  externally,  I  had  been  quite  intimately  associ- 
ated for  several  months.  I  seemed  to  see  things 
through  another's  eyes;  and  while  I  was  more  than 
half  conscious  of  this,  yet  I  could  not  seem  to  throw 
it  off.  This  personality  was  able,  with  a  very  few 
words,  to  make  me  feel  as  though  all  I  said  or  did 
was  a  mistake,  and  that  I  was  a  most  miserable  fail- 
ure. I  was  always  utterly  discouraged  after  being  in 
this  presence,  and  felt  that  I  had  no  ability  to  ac- 
complish anything. 

After  vainly  trying  for  weeks  to  free  myself,  one 
day  I  was  walking  along  the  street  with  a  most  in- 
tense desire  and  determination  to  be  free.  Many 
times  before  I  had  affirmed  that  this  personality 
could  not  affect  or  overcome  me,  etc.,  but  with  no 
effect.  This  day  I  struck  out  further  and  declared 
(silently,  of  course),  "There  is  no  such  personality 
in  the  universe  as  this  one,"  affirming  it  again  and 
again  many  times.  After  a  few  moments  I  began  to 
feel  wondrously  lifted,  and  as  though  chains  were 
dropping  off.     Then  the  voice  within  me  urged  me 


78 


Sixth  Lesson 


on  a  step  further  to  say,  **  There  is  no  personality  in 
the  universe;  there  is  nothing  but  Cod,*'  After  a 
short  time  spent  in  vigorously  using  these  words,  I 
seemed  to  break  every  fetter,  and  step  out  absolutely 
free.  From  that  day  to  this,  without  further  effort^ 
I  have  been  as  free  from  any  influence  of  that  per- 
sonaHty  as  though  none  had  ever  existed. 

If  at  any  time  the  lesser  affirmation  of  truth  fails 
to  free  you  from  the  influence  of  other  minds,  try 
this  more  sweeping  one — "There  is  no  personality  in 
the  universe — ^there  is  nothing  but  God,"  and  you 
are  bound  to  be  made  free. 

The  more  you  learn  to  act  from  the  voice  within 
your  own  soul,  the  stronger  and  more  pronounced 
will  be  individuality  in  you. 

If  inclined  to  wilt  before  strong  personalities  or 
mortal  minds,  always  remember  that,  as  Emerson 
puts  it,  "The  soul  [God]  had  need  of  such  an  organ 
as  I."  Since  God  has  need  of  you,  through  which 
in  some  special  manner  to  manifest  himself — some 
msoiner  which  he  cannot  use  any  other  orgaui  for — 
what  need  have  you  to  quail  before  any  mere  person, 
no  matter  how  important  he  may  feel  himself  to  be? 

However  humble  your  place  in  life,  however  un- 
known to  the  world  you  may  be,  however  small  your 
capabilities  may  seem  at  present  to  you  to  be,  you 


Definition  of  Terms 


79 


are  just  as  much  a  necessity  to  God  in  his  efforts  to 
get  himself  into  visibility  as  is  the  most  brilliant  in- 
tellect, the  most  thoroughly  cultured  person  in  the 
world.  Remember  this  always,  and  act  from  the 
highest  within  you. 


spiritual  Understanding 


81 


SPIRITUAL    UNDERSTANDING    OR 

REALIZATION 

SEVENTH  LESSON 

Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom,  and  the  man 
that  getteth  understanding. 

For  the  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the  merchandise 
of  silver,  and  the  gain  thereof  than  fine  gold. 

She  is  more  precious  than  rubies:  and  all  the  things 
thou  canst  desire  are  not  to  be  compared  unto  her. 

Length  of  days  is  in  her  right  hand;  and  in  her  left 
hand  riches  and  honor. 

Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths 
are  peace. 

She  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold  upon  her: 
and  happy  is  every  one  that  retaineth  her. 

With  all  thy  getting,  get  understanding. 

— Proverbs  of  Solomon. 

What  is  this  understanding  upon  the  getting  of 
which  depends  so  much?  Is  it  intellectual  lore,  got- 
ten from  delving  deep  into  books  of  other  men's 
making?  Is  it  knowledge  obtained  from  studying 
rocks  (geology),  or  stars  (astronomy),  or  even  the 
human  body  (physiology)  ?  Nay,  verily,  for  when 
did  such  knowledge  ever  insure  life  and  health  and 
peace,  ways  of  pleasantness,  with  riches  and  honor? 

Understanding  is  a  spiritual  birth,  a  revelation 

80 


of  God  within  the  human  soul.  Jesus  touched  the 
root  of  the  matter  when,  after  having  asked  the  dis- 
ciples a  certain  question  which  was  answered  vari- 
ously, according  to  the  intellectual  perception  of  the 
men,  one — Peter — gave  him  a  reply  not  based  at  all 
upon  external  reasoning,  but  upon  intuition.  He 
said  to  Peter,  "Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Barjona: 
for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee, 
but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 

You  may  have  an  intellectual  perception  of  the 
truth.  You  may  easily  grasp  with  the  mind  the 
statement  that  God  is  the  Giver  of  all  good  gifts — 
life,  health,  love — just  as  people  have  for  centuries 
grasped  it.  Or  you  may  go  further,  and  intellec- 
tually see  that  God  is  not  only  the  Giver,  but  the 
Gift  Itself;  that  he  is  life,  health,  love,  in  us.  But 
unless  it  be  "revealed  unto  thee  by  my  Father  which 
is  in  heaven,"  it  is  of  no  practical  benefit  to  you  or 
to  any  one  else. 

TTiis  revelation  of  truth  to  the  consciousness  of  a 
person  is  spiritual  understanding. 

You  may  say  to  yourself,  or  another  may  say 
silently  to  you,  over  and  over  again,  that  you  are 
well  and  wise  and  happy.  On  the  plane  of  mortal 
mind  or  intellect  a  certain  "cure"  is  effected,  and 
for  a  time  you  will  feel  well  and  wise  and  happy. 


82 


Seventh  Lesson 


This  is  simply  hypnotism,  or  mind  cure.  But  until, 
down  in  the  depths  of  your  soul,  you  are  conscious 
of  your  oneness  with  the  Father,  until  you  know 
within  yourself  that  the  spring  of  all  wisdom  and 
health  and  joy  is  within  your  own  being,  ready  at 
any  moment  to  spring  forth  at  the  call  of  your  need, 
you  have  not  understanding. 

All  the  teachings  of  Jesus  were  for  the  purpose 
of  leading  men  up  to  this  consciousness  of  their 
oneness  with  the  Father.  He  had  to  begin  at  the 
external  man,  because  people  then  as  now  were 
living  mostly  in  external  things,  and  teach  him  to 
love  his  enemies,  to  do  good  to  others,  etc.  These 
were  external  steps  for  them  to  take — a  sort  of  lop- 
ping off  the  ends  of  the  branches;  but  they  were 
steps  which  led  on  up  to  the  place  of  desire  and  at- 
tainment where  finally  the  Master  could  tell  them 
some  of  the  "many  things"  which  previously  they 
"could  not  bear." 

He  told  them  of  the  G)mforter  which  should  be 
in  them,  and  which  should  teach  them  all  things,  re- 
vealing the  "deep  things  of  God"  to  them,  and  show- 
ing them  things  to  come.  In  other  words,  he  told 
these  simple,  worldly-ignorant  men  how  they  might 
find  the  kingdom  of  heaven  rvithin  themselves — the 
kingdom  of  love,  of  power,  of  life. 


Spiritual  Understanding 


83 


The  coming  of  the  Comforter  to  their  hearts  and 
lives,  giving  them  power  over  every  form  of  sin,  sick- 
ness, sorrow,  and  even  death  itself,  is  exactly  what 
we  mean  by  understanding  or  realization.  The 
power  which  this  consciousness  of  the  indwelling 
Father  gives  is  as  much  for  us  today  as  it  was  for 
them  to  whom  the  Nazarene  verbally  spoke.  Aye, 
more;  for  did  he  not  say,  "Greater  works  than  these 
shall  ye  do"? 

All  the  foregoing  lessons  have  been  just  simply 
external  stepping-stones  leading  up  to  this  same 
point — the  consciousness  of  the  ever-abiding  inner 
Presence,  which  is  to  reveal  to  each  soul  the  fact 
that  it  (the  soul)  is  the  temple  in  which  dwells  the 
Most  High  God.  "Know  ye  not  that  your  body 
is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you? 

I  cannot  reveal  God  to  you.  You  cannot  reveal 
God  to  another.  If  I  have  learned,  I  may  tell  you, 
and  you  may  tell  another  how  to  seek  and  find  God, 
each  within  his  own  soul.  But  the  new  birth  into 
the  consciousness  of  our  spiritual  faculties  and  pos- 
sibilities is  indeed  like  the  wind  which  "bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof, 
but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it 
goeth:  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit. 
It  is  a  process  in  the  silence,  in  the  invisible. 


84 


Seventh  Lesson 


Intellectual  lore  can  be  bought  and  sold ;  under- 
standing or  realization  cannot.  A  man,  Simon  by 
name,  once  attempted  to  buy  the  power  which  spir- 
itual understanding  gives,  from  another  who  pos- 
sessed it.  "But  Peter  said  imto  him.  Thy  money 
perish  with  thee,  because  thou  hast  thought  that  the 
gift  of  God  may  be  purchased  with  money.  Thou 
hast  neither  part  nor  lot  in  this  matter:  for  thy  heart 
is  not  right  in  the  sight  of  God." 

Neither  will  crying  and  beseeching  bring  spirit- 
ual understanding.  Hundreds  of  people  have  tried 
this  method,  and  have  not  received  that  for  which 
they  earnestly  but  ignorantly  sought.  They  have 
not  received,  because  the^  did  not  know  horv  to  take 
that  which  God  freely  offered.  Others  have  sought 
this  spiritual  imderstanding  or  consciousness  of  the 
indwelling  Father  with  selfish  motives,  because  of 
the  power  it  would  give  them.  **Ye  ask,  and  receive 
not,  because  ye  ask  amiss,  that  ye  may  consume  it 
upon  your  lusts"  (or  to  serve  selfish  ends). 

Understanding,  or  realization  of  the  presence  of 
God  within  us,  is  as  Peter  said,  "the  gift  of  God." 
It  comes  to  any  and  all  who  learn  how  to  seek  it 
aright.  Elmerson  says,  "This  energy  [or  conscious- 
ness of  God  in  the  soul]  does  not  descend  into  indi- 
vidual life  on  any  other  condition  than  entire  pos- 


Spiritual  Understanding 


85 


session.  It  comes  to  the  lowly  and  simple;  it  comes 
to  whomsoever  will  put  off  what  is  foreign  and 
proud;  it  comes  as  insight;  it  comes  as  serenity  and 
grandeur.  When  we  see  those  whom  it  inhabits,  we 
are  apprised  of  new  degrees  of  greatness.  From 
that  inspiration  [or  consciousness]  the  man  comes 
back  with  a  changed  tone.  He  does  not  talk  with 
men  with  an  eye  to  their  opinion;  he  ...  is  plain 
and  true;  has  no  rose  color,  no  fine  friends,  ...  no 
adventures;  does  not  want  admiration;  dwells  in 
the  hour  that  now  is." 

"And  ye  shall  seek  me,  and  find  me,  when  ye 
shall  search  for  me  with  all  your  heart."  In  that 
day  when,  more  than  riches  and  honor  and  power 
and  selfish  glory,  you  shall  desire  spiritual  under- 
standing, in  that  day  will  come  to  you  the  revelation 
of  God  in  your  own  soul,  and  you  will  be  conscious 
of  the  indwelling  Father,  who  is  life  and  strength 
and  power  and  peace. 

One  may  so  desire  a  partial  revelation  of  God 
within  him,  a  revelation  along  one  line — as,  for  in- 
stance, that  of  health — as  to  seek  it  with  "all  his 
heart."  And  if  he  has  learned  how  to  take  the  de- 
sired gift,  by  uncompromising  affirmation  that  it  is 
his  already,  he  will  get  understanding  or  realization 
of  God  as  his  perfect  health.    So  with  any  other  de- 


86 


Seventh  Lesson 


Sired  gift  of  God.  This  is  a  step  in  the  right  di- 
rection. It  is  learning  how  to  ial^e  Cod  fcp  faith  for 
whatever  one  desires.  But  in  the  onward  growth 
the  time  will  come  to  every  soul  when  he  will  hear 
the  Divine  Voice  within  him  saying,  **G)me  up 
higher,"  and  he  will  pass  beyond  any  merely  selfish 
desires  which  are  just  for  his  own  comfort's  sake. 
He  will  desire  good  that  he  may  have  the  more  to 
give  out,  knowing  that  as  God  (or  Good)  flows 
through  him  to  others  it  will  make  him  "every  whit 
whole." 

In  the  beginning  of  Solomon's  reign  as  king  over 
Israel,  the  Divine  Presence  appeared  to  him  in  a 
dream  at  night,  saying,  "Ask  what  I  shall  give  thee." 
And  Solomon  said,  "Give  thy  servant  an  under- 
standing heart." 

"And  the  speech  pleased  the  Lord,  that  Solo- 
mon had  asked  this  thing. 

"And  God  said  unto  him.  Because  thou  hast 
asked  this  thing,  and  hast  not  asked  for  thyself  long 
life;  neither  hast  asked  riches  for  thyself,  nor  hast 
asked  the  life  of  thine  enemies;  but  hast  asked  for 
thyself  understanding  to  discern  judgment; 

"Behold,  I  have  done  according  to  thy  words: 
lo,  I  have  given  thee  a  wise  and  an  understanding 
heart;  so  that  there  was  none  like  thee  before  thee. 


Spiritual  Understanding 


87 


neither  after  thee  shall  any  rise  like  unto  thee. 

*'And  I  have  also  given  thee  that  which  thou 
hast  not  asked,  both  riches  and  honor:  so  that  there 
shall  not  be  any  among  the  kings  like  unto  thee  all 

thy  days." 

Thus  in  losing  sight  of  all  worldly  goods  and 
chatties,  all  merely  selfish  ends,  and  desiring  above 
all  things  an  understanding  heart  (or  a  spiritual  con- 
sciousness of  God  within  him  as  wisdom,  life, 
power),  Solomon  received  all  the  goods  or  good 
things  included,  so  that  there  was  none  among  the 
kings  like  unto  him  in  worldly  possessions.  "Seek  ye 
first  the  kingdom  [or  consciousness]  of  God,  and  his 
righteousness;  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you."  "For  whosoever  will  save  his  life  [or 
the  things  of  his  life]  shall  lose  it:  and  whosoever 
will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  [or  that  is  willing  to 
forget  the  goods  of  this  life  for  the  truth's  sake, 
choosing  before  all  things  the  finding  of  God  in  his 
own  soul]  shall  find  it. 

When  you  first  consciously  desire  spiritual  under- 
standing you  do  not  attain  it  at  once.  You  have 
been  living  in  the  external  of  your  being,  and  have 
believed  yourself  cut  off  from  God.  Your  first  step 
after  "coming  to  yourself"  is  to  "arise  and  go  to  my 
Father" — ^to  turn  your  thoughts  away  from  the  ex- 


88 


Seventh  Lesson 


temal  seeming  toward  the  central  and  real ;  to  know 
intellectually  that  you  are  not  cut  off  from  God,  and 
that  he  forever  desires  to  manifest  himself  within  you 
as  your  present  deliverance  from  all  suffering  and 
sin.  Just  as  Jesus  taught,  we  begin  our  journey  to- 
ward understanding  by  cutting  off  the  branches  of 
our  selfishness.  We  try  to  love  instead  of  hating. 
We  begin  to  forgive,  even  if  it  costs  us  great  mental 
effort,  instead  of  avenging  ourselves.  We  begin  to 
deny  envy,  jealousy,  anger,  sickness,  and  all  imper- 
fection, and  to  affirm  love,  peace  and  health. 

Begin  with  the  words  of  truth  which  you  have 
learned,  and  which  perhaps  you  have  as  yet  only 
comprehended  with  the  intellect.  You  must  be  will- 
ing to  thus  take  the  very  first  light  you  receive  and 
use  it  faithfully,  earnestly,  both  to  help  yourself  and 
others.  Sometimes  you  will  be  almost  overcome  by 
questions  and  doubts  arising  in  your  own  mind  when 
looking  in  vain  for  results.  But  you  must  with  ef- 
fort press  past  the  place  of  doubt;  and  some  day, 
in  the  fullness  of  God's  time,  while  you  are  using 
the  words  of  truth,  they  will  suddenly  be  illumined 
and  become  to  you  the  living  word  within  you — the 
true  light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world.  You  will  no  longer  dwell  in  darkness, 
for  the  light  will  be  within  your  own  soul;  and  the 


Spiritual  Understanding 


89 


"word  will  be  made  flesh"  to  you;  i.  c,  you  will 
be  conscious  of  a  new  and  diviner  life  in  your  body, 
a  new  and  diviner  love  for  all  people,  a  new  and 
diviner  power  to  accomplish. 

This  is  spiritual  understanding.  This  is  a  flash 
of  the  Most  High  God  within  your  consciousness. 
Old  things  will  have  passed  away.  Behold,  all 
things  become  new!  This  will  be  the  time  when 
you  "will  not  talk  with  men  with  an  eye  to  their 
opinion."  This  is  when  you  will  suddenly  become 
plain  and  true;  when  you  will  cease  to  desire  ad- 
miration; when  all  words  of  congratulation  from 
others  on  your  success  will  fill  you  with  an  inex- 
pressible sense  of  humility;  when  all  mere  compli- 
ments will  be  to  you  as  sounding  brass  and  tinkling 
cymbal.  Truly,  from  that  inspiration  a  man  comes 
back  with  a  changed  tone! 

With  spiritual  understanding  comes  new  light  on 
the  Scriptures.  The  very  Spirit  of  Truth,  which 
has  come  to  abide  with  you  forever  in  your  con- 
sciousness, takes  of  the  deep  things  of  God  and  re- 
veals them  unto  you.  You  no  longer  feel  like  run- 
ning to  and  fro  to  teachers  or  healers,  however  ef- 
ficient and  good  they  may  be.  You  know  that  the 
.  living  light,  the  living  word  within  you,  will  guide 
you  into  all  truth. 


90 


Seventh  Lesson 


What  we  need  to  do  is  to  seek  this  revelation  of 
the  living  Christ  within  our  own  being,  each  for  him- 
self, knowing  that  only  this  divinity  come  forth  can 
make  us  grand  and  powerful  and  happy. 

Every  person  in  his  heart  desires,  though  he 
may  not  yet  quite  know  it,  this  new  birth  into  a 
higher  life,  into  this  spiritual  consciousness.  Every- 
one wants  more  power,  more  good,  more  joy.  And 
though  to  the  ignorant  mind  it  may  seem  that  it  is 
more  money  as  money,  or  more  goods  that  he  wants, 
it  is,  nevertheless,  more  of  good  (or  God)  that  he 
craves;  for  all  good  is  God. 

Many  today  are  conscious  that  the  inner  hunger 
cannot  be  satisfied  with  goods,  and  are  with  all  ear- 
nestness seeking  this  spiritual  understanding  or  con- 
sciousness of  an  immanent  God;  they  have  been 
seeking  long,  and  with  a  great  degree  of  unselfish- 
ness, a  feeling  that  when  they  have  fully  found  God 
they  will  begin  to  do  for  others.  Faithful  service  for 
others  hastens  the  day-dawning  for  ourselves.  The 
gifts  of  God  are  not  given  in  reward  for  faithful 
service,  as  a  fond  mother  gives  cake  to  her  child  for 
being  good;  nevertheless  they  are  a  reward,  inas- 
much as  that  service  is  one  of  the  steps  which  leads  up 
to  the  place  where  all  the  fullness  of  God  awaits  us. 
And  while  spiritual  understanding  is  in  reality  a 


Spiritual  Understanding 


91 


"gift  of  God,"  it  comes  to  us  more  or  less  quickly  in 
proportion  as  we  use  the  light  we  already  have  in 

helping  others. 

I  believe  that  too  much  introspection,  too  much 
of  what  people  usually  call  "spiritual  seeking,"  is 
detrimental  rather  than  helpful  to  the  end  desired- 
spiritual  growth.  It  is  a  sort  of  spiritual  selfishness, 
paradoxical  as  this  may  seem.  From  the  beginning 
to  the  end  Jesus  taught  the  giving  out  of  what  one 
already  possessed  to  him  who  had  none. 

"Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen?"  said 
the  Spirit  of  God  through  the  prophet  Isaiah,  "to 
loose  the  bands  of  wickedness,  to  undo  the  heavy 
burdens,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free? 

"Is  it  not  to  deal  thy  bread  to  the  hungry,  and 
that  thou  bring  the  poor  that  are  cast  out  to  thy 
house?  when  thou  seest  the  naked,  that  thou  cover 

him? 

"Then  shall  thy  light  break  forth  as  the  mormng, 
and  thine  health  shall  spring  forth  speedily.  TTien 
shalt  thou  call,  and  the  Lord  shall  answer.  Here 

I  am. 

"And  if  thou  draw  out  thy  soul  to  the  hungry, 
and  satisfy  the  afflicted  soul;  then  shall  thy  light  rise 
in  obscurity,  and  thy  darkness  be  as  the  noonday : 

"And  the  Lord  shall  guide  thee  contmually.  and 


92 


Seventh  Lesson 


satisfy  thy  soul  in  drouth,  and  make  fat  thy  bones: 
and  thou  shalt  be  like  a  watered  garden,  and  like  a 
spring  of  water,  whose  waters  fail  not." 

Stagnation  is  death.  A  pool  cannot  be  kept 
clean  and  sweet  and  renewed  unless  there  is  an  out- 
let as  well  as  an  inlet.  It  is  our  business  to  keep  the 
outlet  open,  and  God's  business  to  keep  the  stream 
flowing  in  and  through  us.  Unless  you  use  for  the 
service  of  others  what  God  has  already  given  you, 
you  will  find  it  a  long,  weary  road  to  spiritual  under- 
standing. 

We  cry  out  and  strain  every  nerve  to  obtain  full 
understanding,  just  as  sometimes  we  have  heard  ear- 
nest people,  but  people  wholly  ignorant  of  divine 
laws,  beseech  God  for  the  "full  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  in  the  day  of  Pentecost."  Jesus  said,  "I 
have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot 
bear  them  now."  We  grow  by  using  for  others  the 
light  and  knowledge  we  have.  We  expand,  as  we 
go  on  step  by  step  in  spiritual  insight,  until  in  the 
fullness  of  time,  which  means  when  we  have  grown 
spiritually  up  to  the  place  where  God  sees  we  are 
able  to  bear  the  many  things,  we  receive  the  desire  of 
our  hearts — ^understanding. 

Seek  your  own  Lord.  Take  the  light  as  it  is  re- 
vealed to  you  and  use  it  for  others;  and  prove  for 


Spiritual  Understanding 


93 


yourself  whether  there  be  truth  in  this  prophecy  of 
Isaiah,  that  "then  shall  thy  light  rise  in  obscurity, 
and  thy  darkness  be  as  the  noonday;"  and  "then 
shall  thy  light  break  forth  as  the  morning,  and  thine 
health  shall  spring  forth  speedily." 


THE   SECRET   PLACE   OF   THE   MOST 

HIGH 

EIGHTH  LESSON 

[In  the  progress  of  these  simple  lessons,  some  may 
object  to  the  language  being  too  "orthodox** — -too  much  of 
the  religious  side  of  the  question.  I  use  Scriptural  terms 
simply  because  I  prefer  them ;  but  it  is  all  essentially  one  and 
the  same  thing.  It  is  not  Mental  Science  nor  Christian 
Science,  as  such,  that  you  want.  It  is  not  any  ism,  for  each 
is  but  one  side  of  the  truth.  It  is  truth  we  are  after;  and  at 
the  center  of  all  these  various  forms  of  presenting  the  truth 
the  thing  itself  is  one. 

So  let  us  be  big  enough  and  broad  enough,  no  matter 
on  what  side  of  the  truth  we  have  thus  far  been  seeking  the 
light  of  the  world,  to  put  away  all  prejudices,  all  the  limita- 
tions which  the  mere  form  of  words  may  heretofore  have 
made  in  our  minds,  and  be  open  to  all  there  is  for  us.] 

There  is  nothing  the  human  soul  so  longs  for, 
so  cries  out  after,  as  to  know  God,  "whom  to  know 
aright  is  life  eternal." 

With  a  restlessness  which  is  pitiful  to  see,  peo- 
ple are  ever  shifting  from  one  thing  to  another, 
always  hoping  to  find  rest  and  satisfaction  in  some 
anticipated  accomplishment  or  possession.  Men 
fancy  they  want  houses  and  lands,  great  learning  or 

94 


Secret  Place  of  the  Most  High 


95 


power.     They  pursue  these  things  and  gain  them 
only  to  find  themselves  still  restless,  still  unsatisfied. 

At  the  great  heart  of  humanity  there  is  a  deep 
and  awful  homesickness,  which  never  has  been  and 
never  can  be  satisfied  with  anything  less  than  a  clear, 
vivid  consciousness  of  the  indwelling  presence  of 
God,  our  Father.  In  all  ages  earnest  men  and 
women,  who  have  recognized  this  inner  hunger  as 
the  heart's  cry  after  God,  have  left  seeking  after 
things,  and  have  sought,  by  devoted  worship  and  by 
service  to  others,  to  enter  into  this  consciousness;  but 
few  have  succeeded  in  reaching  the  promised  place 
where  their  "joy  is  full."  Others  have  hoped  and 
feared  alternately;  they  have  tried  with  the  best 
knowledge  they  possessed  to  "work  out  their  salva- 
tion," not  yet  having  learned  that  there  must  be  an 
in-working  as  well  as  an  outworking.  "By  grace 
[or  free  gift]  ye  are  saved  through  faith;  and  that 
not  of  yourselves  [or  of  any  mortal  working] :  it  is 
the  gift  of  Cod :  Not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should 
boast." 

To  him  who  "dwelleth  in  the  secret  place  of  the 
Most  High"  there  is  promised  immunity  from  the 
noisome  pestilence  and  the  snare  of  the  fowler,  from 
the  terror  by  night,  and  the  arrow  that  flieth  by  day ; 
and  even  immunity  from  fear  of  these  things.    Oh, 


96 


Eighth  Lesson 


the  awfully  paralyzing  effect  of  fear  of  evil!  It 
surely  "doth  make  cowards  of  us  all."  It  makes  us 
helpless  as  babes.  It  makes  us  pigmies,  where  we 
might  be  giants  were  we  only  free  from  it.  It  is  at 
the  root  of  all  our  failures,  nearly  all  sickness,  pov- 
erty and  distress.  But  we  have  the  promise  of  de- 
liverance from  even  the  fear  of  evil  when  we  are  in 
the  "secret  place."  "Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  of 
the  terror  by  night,"  etc.  "In  the  time  of  trouble  he 
shall  hide  me  in  his  pavilion:  in  the  secret  of  his 
tabernacle  shall  he  hide  me."  "Thou  shalt  hide 
them  in  the  secret  of  thy  presence  from  the  pride  of 
man:  thou  shalt  keep  them  secretly  in  a  pavilion 
from  the  strife  of  tongues." 

The  secret  place!  Why  called  a  secTet  place? 
What  is  it?  Where  may  we  find  it?  how  abide  in  it? 
It  is  a  secret  place  because  it  is  the  place  of  meet- 
ing between  the  Christ  at  the  center  of  your  being 
and  your  consciousness— a  hidden  place  into  which 
no  outside  person  can  either  induct  you  or  enter  him- 
self. We  must  drop  the  idea  that  this  place  of  reali- 
zation of  our  divinity  can  be  given  to  us  by  any  hu- 
man being.  No  one  can  come  into  it  from  the  out- 
side. Hundreds  of  earnest  souls  are  seeking  mght 
and  day  to  get  this  inner  revealing.  They  run  from 
teacher  to  teacher,  many  of  them  making  the  most 


Secret  Place  of  the  Most  High 


97 


frantic  efforts  to  meet  the  financial  obligations  thus 
incurred. 

You  may  study  with  human  teachers  and  from 
man-made  books  till  doomsday ;  you  may  get  all  the 
theological  lore  of  the  ages;  you  may  understand 
intellectually  all  the  statements  of  truth,  and  be  able 
to  prate  healing  formulae  as  glibly  as  oil  flows;  but 
until  there  is  a  definite  inner  revealing  of  the  reality 
of  an  indwelling  Christ  through  whom  and  by  whom 
Cometh  life,  health,  peace,  power,  all  things — aye, 
who  is  all  things — you  have  not  yet  found  the 
"secret  of  the  Lord." 

In  order  to  gain  this  knowledge — ^this  conscious- 
ness of  God  within  their  ovm  soul — ^many  are  willing 
(and  wisely  so,  for  this  is  greater  than  all  other 
knowledge)  to  spend  all  they  possess.  Even  Paul, 
after  twenty-five  years  of  service  and  of  most  marvel- 
ous preaching,  said,  "I  count  all  things  but  loss  for 
the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my 
Lord :  and  do  count  them  but  dung,  that  I  may  win 
Christ"  (or  the  consciousness  of  his  Divine  Self). 

Beloved,  that  which  you  so  earnestly  desire  and 
seek  will  never  be  found  by  seeking  it  through  the 
mental  side  alone,  any  more  than  it  has  heretofore 
been  found  through  the  emotional  side  alone.  In- 
tuition and  intellect  are  meant  to  travel  together,  in- 


98 


Eighth  Lesson 


tuition  always  holding  the  reins  to  guide  intellect. 
"Come,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord." 
If  you  have  been  thus  far  on  the  way  cultivating  and 
enlarging  only  the  mental  side  of  truth,  as  probably 
is  the  case,  you  need,  in  order  to  come  into  the  full- 
ness of  understanding,  to  let  the  mental,  the  reason- 
ing side,  rest  awhile.  "Become  as  a  little  child," 
and,  learning  how  to  be  still,  listen  to  that  which  the 
Father  will  say  to  you  through  the  intuitional  part  of 
your  being.  The  light  you  so  crave  Tvill  come  out  of 
the  deep  silence,  and  become  manifest  to  you  from 
within  you,  if  you  will  but  keep  still  and  look  for  it 
from  that  source. 

This  conscious  knowledge  of  an  indwelling  God 
which  we  so  crave  is  that  of  which  Paul  wrote  to  the 
Colossians,  as  "the  mystery  which  hath  been  hid 
from  ages  and  from  generations,  but  now  is  made 
manifest  .  .  .  Christ  in  ^ou,  the  hope  of  glory." 
"The  secret  place  of  the  Most  High,"  where  each 
one  of  us  may  dwell  and  be  safe  from  all  harm  or 
fear  of  evil,  is  the  point  of  mystical  union  between 
soul  (or  conscious  mind)  and  Spirit  (or  God  in  us), 
wherein  we  no  longer  believe,  but  we  ^noip,  that 
God  in  Christ  abides  always  at  the  center  of  our 
being  as  our  perfect  health,  deliverance,  prosperity, 
power,  ready  to  come  forth  at  any  moment  we  claim 


Secret  Place  of  the  Most  High 


99 


it  into  manifestation.  We  know  it.  We  ki^orv  it. 
We  feel  our  oneness  with  the  Father,  and  we  mani- 
fest this  oneness. 

To  possess  the  secret  of  anything  gives  one  the 
power  over  it.  This  personal,  conscious  knowledge 
of  the  Father  in  us  is  the  secret  which  is  the  key  to 
all  power.  What  we  want  is  the  revelation  to  us  of 
this  marvelous  "secret."  What  shall,  who  can  give 
it  to  us  except  He,  the  "Spirit  of  Truth,  which  pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  Father"?  Surely  none  other. 
That  which  God  would  say  to  you,  and  do  through 
you,  is  a  great  secret  which  no  man  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  knows,  or  ever  will  know,  except  yourself 
as  it  is  revealed  to  you  by  the  Spirit  which  is  in  you. 
That  secret  which  He  tells  me,  is  not  revealed  to 
you,  nor  yours  to  me ;  but  each  soul  must,  after  all  is 
said  and  done,  deal  directly  with  the  Father  through 
the  Son  within  himself. 

Secrets  are  not  told  upon  the  housetop.  Nor  is  it 
possible  to  pass  this,  the  greatest  of  secrets,  from  one 
to  another.  God,  the  Creator  of  our  being,  must 
himself  whisper  it  to  each  soul  living  in  the  very  in- 
nermost of  itself.  "To  him  that  overcometh  [or  is 
consciously  in  process  of  overcoming]  will  I  give  to 
eat  of  the  hidden  manna,  and  will  give  him  a  white 
stone  [or  a  mind  like  a  clean  white  tablet] ,  and  in 


100 


Eighth  Lesson 


riie  Stone  a  new  name  rvritten,  Tvhich  no  man  knorveih 
saving  he  thai  receheth  i/."  It  is  so  secret  that  it 
cannot  even  be  put  into  human  language  or  repeated 

by  human  lips. 

What  you  want  today,  and  what  I  want,  is  that 
the  rvords  which  we  have  learned  to  say  as  truth  be 
made  alive  to  us.    We  want  a  revelation  of  God  in 
us  as  Life,  to  be  made  to  our  own  personal  conscious- 
ness as  health.     We  no  longer  care  to  have  some- 
body just  tell  us  the  words  from  the  outside.    We 
want  a  revelation  of  God  as  Love  within  us,  so  that 
our  whole  being  is  filled  and  thrilled  with  love— a 
love  that  does  not  have  to  be  pumped  up  by  a  deter- 
mined effort  because  we  know  that  it  is  right  to  love 
and  wrong  not  to  love,  but  a  love  that  flows  with  the 
spontaneity  and  fullness  of  an  artesian  well,  because 
it  is  so  full  at  the  bottom  that  it  must  flow  out  or 

burst. 

What  we  want  today  is  a  revelation  to  our  con- 
sciousness of  God  within  us  as  Omnipotent  Power, 
so  that  we  can  by  a  word  or  look  ''accomplish  that 
whereunto  the  word  is  sent."  We  want  the  mani- 
festation to  us  of  the  Father  in  us.  so  that  we  can 
know  him  personally.  We  want  to  be  conscious  of 
"God  working  in  us  to  will  and  to  do,"  so  that  we 
may  "work  out  our  salvation."     We  have  been 


Secret  Place  of  the  Most  High 


101 


learning  how  to  do  the  ouf-working,  but  have  now 
come  up  to  a  point  when  we  must  learn  more  of  how 
to  place  ourselves  in  an  attitude  where  we  can  each 
one  be  conscious  of  the  Divine  inner  working. 

Mary  talked  with  the  risen  Jesus,  supposing  it 
was  the  gardener,  until  suddenly,  as  he  spoke  her 
name,  there  flashed  into  her  consciousness  a  ray  of 
pure  intelligence,  and  in  an  instant  the  revelation  was 
made  to  her  innermost  soul  of  his  identity. 

According  to  the  same  sacred  history,  Thomas 
Didymus  had  walked  daily  for  three  years  with  the 
most  wondrous  teacher  of  spiritual  things  that  has 
ever  lived.    He  had  watched  this  teacher's  life  and 
been  partaker  of  his  very  presence,  physical  and  men- 
tal.   He  had  had  just  what  you  and  I  have  thus  far 
received  of  mental  training  and  external  teaching. 
But  there  came  a  time  when  there  was  an  inner  re- 
vealing which  made  him  exclaim,  "A/p  Lord  and  my 
God!"    The  secret  name  which  no  other  man  could 
know  for  him  had  that  moment  been  given  to  him. 
There  had  come,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  man- 
ifestation to  his  consciousness  of  the  Father  in  him 
as  his  Lord  and  his  God.     No  longer  simply  our 
Father  and  our  Lord,  but  mp  Lord  and  my  God— 
my  Divine  Self  revealed  to  me  personally. 
Is  not  this  that  which  you  are  craving? 


102 


Eighth  Lesson 


Each  soul  must  come  to  a  time  when  it  no  longer 
is  satisfied  with  or  seeks  external  helps — when  it 
knows  that  the  inner  revelation  of  "mp  Lord  and  mp 
God"  to  its  consciousness  can  only  come  to  it  through 
an  Indwelling  Power,  which  has  been  there  all  the 
time,  waiting  with  an  infinite  longing,  but  an  infinite 
patience,  to  reveal  the  Father  to  the  child. 

This  revelation  will  never  come  through  the  intel- 
lect of  man  to  the  consciousness,  but  must  ever  come 
through  the  intuitional  to  the  intellect  as  a  manifesta- 
tion of  Spirit  to  the  soul.  "The  natural  man  receiv- 
eth  not  [nor  can  it  impart  them]  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God:  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him: 
neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritual- 
ly discerned,"  and  they  must  be  spiritually  imparted. 
In  our  eagerness  we  have  waited  upon  every 
source  we  could  reach  or  hear  for  the  light  we 
wanted.  Because  we  have  not  known  how  to  wait 
upon  the  Spirit  within  us  for  the  desired  revelation, 
we  have  run  to  and  fro.  Let  no  one  misunderstand 
me  in  what  I  say  about  withdrawing  yourself  from 
teachers.  Teachers  are  good  and  are  necessary  up 
to  a  certain  point.  "How  then  shall  they  call  on  him 
in  whom  they  have  not  believed?  and  how  shall  they 
believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard?  and 
how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher?" 


Secret  Place  of  the  Most  High 


103 


Books  and  lectures  are  good,  teachers  are  good, 
until  you  learn  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear  that  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God,  lives  in  you ;  that  he  within  you  is 
your  light  and  life  and  all.  When  you  have  once 
grasped  this  beyond  a  doubt  with  the  intellect,  you 
are  forever  through  with  external  teachers;  and 
every  day  you  look  to  them  after  this  you  put  off  the 
day  of  revelation  for  yourself.  That  Christ  lives  in 
you,  Spirit  itself  must  make  real  to  you.  Teachers 
talk  about  the  light,  but  the  light  itself  must  flash  into 
the  darkness  before  you  can  see  the  light. 

Had  the  Master  remained  with  the  disciples,  I 
doubt  if  they  would  ever  have  gotten  beyond  the 
place  of  hanging  on  his  words  and  following  in  the 
footsteps  of  his  personality.  With  the  knowledge 
and  power  he  possessed  he  might  at  any  time  have 
spoken  the  word  which  would  have  opened  the  eyes 
of  their  understanding ;  but  he  did  not. 

Jesus  knew  that  his  treatments  for  spiritual  illum- 
ination, given  to  his  disciples  from  his  recognition  of 
truth,  would  act  in  them  as  a  seed  thought,  but  he 
also  knew  that  each  man  must  for  himself  wait  upon 
God  for  the  inner  illumination  which  should  be  last- 
ing and  real.  God  alone  could  whisper  the  secret 
to  each  one  separately. 

The  "enduement  of  power"  was  not  to  come  to 


104 


Eighth  Lesson 


them  by  the  spoken  word  through  another  personal- 
ity, even  that  of  Jesus  with  his  great  spiritual  power 
and  discernment.  It  was  to  come  from  "on  high'*  to 
each  individual  consciousness.  It  was  the  promise 
of  the  Father  which  ye  have  heard  of  me.*'  He  had 
merely  told  them  about  it,  but  had  no  power  to  give 
it  to  them. 

So  to  each  of  us  this  spiritual  illumination  which 
we  are  crying  out  after,  this  "enduement  of  power*' 
for  which  we  are  willing  to  sell  all  that  we  have, 
must  come  from  "on  high,"  i.  e.,  to  the  consciousness 
from  the  Spirit  within  our  being.  This  is  the  secret 
which  the  Father  longs  with  an  infinite  yearning  to 
reveal  to  each  individual  soul.  It  is  because  of  the 
Father's  desire  within  us  to  show  us  the  secret,  that 
we  are  drawn  to  desire  the  revelation.  It  is  the  pur- 
pose for  which  we  came  into  the  world — ^that  we 
might  grow  step  by  step,  as  we  are  doing,  to  the 
place  where  we  could  bear  to  have  the  secret  of  his 
inner  abiding  revealed  to  us. 

Do  not  be  confused  by  seeming  contradictions  in 
the  lessons.  I  have  said  heretofore  that  too  much  in- 
trospection is  not  good.  I  repeat  it;  for  there  are 
those  who,  in  earnest  desire  to  know  God,  are  al- 
ways seeking  the  light  for  themselves,  but  neglect  to 
use  that  which  they  already  have  to  help  others. 


Secret  Place  of  the  Most  High 


105 


There  must  be  an  equal  conscious  receiving  from 
the  Father  and  giving  out  to  the  world,  a  perfect 
equilibrium  between  the  inflowing  and  the  outgiving, 
to  keep  perfect  harmony.    We  must  each  learn  how 
to  wait  renewedly  upon  God  for  the  infilling,  and 
then  go  and  give  out  that  which  we  have  received  to 
every  creature,  as  the  Spirit  leads  us  to  give,  either 
in  preaching  or  teaching,  or  in  silently  living  the 
truth.    That  which  fills  us  will  radiate  from  us  with- 
out effort  right  in  the  place  in  life  where  we  stand. 
In  nearly  all  teaching  of  truth  from  the  purely 
mental  side  there  is  much  said  about  the  working 
out  of  our  salvation  by  holding  right  thoughts,  by 
denials  and  affirmations.     This  is  all  good.     But 
there  is  also  another  side  which  we  need  to  know  a 
little  more  about.     We  must  learn  how  to  be  still 
and  let  Spirit,  the  "I  Am,"  work  in  us,  that  we  may 
indeed  be  made  "new  creatures,"  that  we  may  have 
the  mind  of  Christ  in  all  things. 

When  you  have  learned  how  to  perfectly  aban- 
don yourself  to  Infinite  Spirit,  and  have  seasons  of 
doing  this  daily,  you  will  be  surprised  at  the  mar- 
velous change  which  will  be  wrought  in  you  without 
any  conscious  effort  of  your  own. 

It  will  search  far  below  your  conscious  mind, 
and  root  out  things  in  your  nature  of  which  you  have 


106 


Eighth  Lesson 


scarcely  been  conscious,  simply  because  they  have 
lain  latent  there,  waiting  for  something  to  bring  them 
out.  It  will  work  into  your  consciousness  light  and 
life  and  love  and  all  good,  perfectly  filling  all  your 
lack  while  you  just  quietly  Tvait  and  receive.  Of  the 
practical  steps  in  this  direction  we  will  speak  in  an- 
other lesson. 

Paul,  who  had  learned  this  way  of  faith,  this 
way  of  being  still,  and  letting  the  **I  Am"  work 
itself  into  his  conscious  mind  as  the  fullness  of  all  his 
needs,  was  neither  afraid  nor  ashamed  to  say: 

**For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees  unto  the  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 

"Of  whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth 
is  named, 

"That  he  would  grant  you,  according  to  the 
riches  of  his  glory,  to  be  strengthened  with  might  by 
his  Spirit  in  the  inner  man; 

"That  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith; 
that  ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love, 

"May  be  able  to  comprehend  with  all  saints 
what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and 
height ; 

"And  to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth 
knowledge,  that  ye  might  be  filled  with  all  the  full- 
ness of  God." 


Secret  Place  of  the  Most  High 


107 


And  then  he  gives  an  ascription  of  praise: 
"Unto  him  that  is  able  to  do  exceedingly  abundantly 
above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  according  to  the 
power  that  worketh  in  us.** 


FINDING  THE  SECRET  PLACE 

NINTH   LESSON 

How  to  seek?  Where  to  find?  How  to  abide 
in  It?  These  are  the  questions  that  today  more  than 
at  any  other  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  are  en- 
gaging the  hearts  of  men.  More  than  anything  else 
it  is  what  I  want.    It  is  what  you  want. 

All  these  steps  we  are  taking,  by  speaking  the 
words  of  truth  and  striving  to  manifest  the  light  we 
have  already  received,  are  carrying  us  on  swiftly 
to  the  time  when  we  shall  have  consciously  the  per- 
fect mind  of  Christ,  with  all  the  love  and  beauty 
and  health  and  power  which  that  implies. 

We  need  not  be  anxious  or  in  a  hurry  for  the  full 
manifestation.  Let  us  not  at  any  time  lose  sight  of 
the  fact  that  our  desire,  great  as  it  is,  is  only  God's 
desire  in  us.  "No  man  cometh  unto  me,  except  the 
Father  draw  him."  The  Father  in  us  desires  to 
reveal  the  secret  of  his  presence  to  us,  else  we  had 
not  known  any  hunger  for  the  secret,  or  for  truth. 

"Ye  have  not  chosen  me,  but  I  have  chosen  you, 
and  ordained  you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring  forth 
fruit." 

106 


Finding  the  Secret  Place 


!09 


Whoever  you  are  that  read  these  words,  where- 
ever  you  stand  in  the  world,  be  it  on  the  platform 
preaching  the  gospel,  or  in  the  humblest  little  home 
seeking  the  truth  that  you  may  make  it  manifest  in 
a  sweeter,  stronger,  less  selfish  life,  know  once  and 
forever  it  is  not  you  seeking  God,  but  it  is  God  seek- 
ing you.  That  which  you  feel  and  desire  for  greater 
manifestation  is  the  Eternal  Energy,  which  holds 
the  worlds  in  their  orbits,  out-pushing  through  you 
to  get  into  fuller  manifestation.  You  need  not 
worry.  You  need  not  be  anxious.  You  need  not 
strive.     Only  let  it.     Learn  how  to  let  it. 

After  all  our  beating  about  the  bush,  seeking 
here  and  there  for  our  heart's  desire,  we  must  come 
right  to  him  who  himself  is  the  fulfillment  of  every 
desire;  who  waits  to  manifest  more  of  himself  to  us 
and  through  us.  If  you  wanted  my  love  or  any- 
thing that  I  am  (not  that  I  fiove) ,  you  would  not  go 
to  Tom  Jones  or  Mary  Smith  to  get  it.  Either  of 
these  persons  might  tell  you  I  could  and  would  give 
myself,  but  you  would  have  to  come  directly  to  me, 
and  receive  of  me  that  which  only  I  have,  because 

I  am  it. 

And  in  some  way,  after  all  our  seeking  for  the 
light  and  truth,  we  must  learn  how  to  wait^  each  one 


no 


Ninth  Lesson 


for  himself,  upon  God  for  this  inner  revelation  of 
truth,  and  our  oneness  with  him. 

The  light  we  want  is  not  some  thing  God  has  to 
give.  It  is  God  himself.  God  does  not  give  us  life 
or  love  as  a  thing.  God  is  Life  and  Light  and  Love. 
More  of  himself  in  our  consciousness,  then,  is  what 
we  all  want,  no  matter  what  other  name  we  may 

give  it. 

My  enduement  of  power  must  come  from  "on 
high,"  from  a  higher  region  within  myself  than  my 
present  conscious  mind;  so  must  yours.  It  must  be 
a  descent  of  the  Holy  (whole,  entire,  complete) 
Spirit  at  the  center  of  your  being  into  your  conscious 
mind.  The  illumination  we  want  can  never  come  in 
any  other  way;  nor  can  the  power  to  make  good 

manifest. 

We  hear  a  great  deal  about  "sitting  in  the  si- 
lence." To  many  it  does  not  mean  very  much,  for 
they  have  not  yet  learned  how  to  "wait  upon  God," 
or  to  hear  any  voice  except  external  ones.  Noise 
belongs  to  the  outside  world,  not  to  God.  God 
works  in  the  stillness,  and  we  can  so  wait  upon  the 
Father  of  our  being  as  to  be  conscious  of  the  still, 
inner  working — conscious  of  the  fulfillment  of  our 
desires.     "They  that  seek  the  Lord  shall  not  want 


Finding  the  Secret  Place 


111 


any  good."  "They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall 
renew  their  strength." 

In  one  of  Edward  Everett  Hale's  stories  he 
speaks  of  a  little  girl  who,  amidst  her  play  with  the 
butterflies  and  birds  in  a  country  place,  used  to  run 
into  a  nearby  chapel  frequently  to  pray;  and  after 
praying  would  always  remain  perfectly  still  a  few 
minutes,  "waiting,"  she  said,  "to  see  if  God  wanted 
to  say  anything"  to  her.  So  children  are  always- 
nearest  the  kingdom. 

When  beginning  the  practice  of  sitting  in  the 
silence,  do  not  feel  that  you  must  go  and  sit  with 
some  other  person.  The  presence  of  another  per- 
sonality is  apt  to  distract  the  mind.  Learn  first  how 
to  commune  alone  with  the  Creator  of  the  universe, 
who  is  all  companionship.  And  when  you  are  able 
to  withdraw  from  the  outside,  and  be  alone  with 
him,  then  sitting  with  others  may  be  profitable  to 
you  and  to  them. 

"Sitting  in  the  silence"  is  not  just  a  sort  of  lazy 
drifting.  It  is  a  passive,  but  a  definite,  waiting  upon 
Cod.  When  you  want  to  do  this,  take  a  time  when 
you  are  not  likely  to  be  disturbed,  and  when  you 
can  for  a  little  while  lay  off  all  care.  Begin  your 
silence  by  lifting  up  your  heart  in  prayer  to  the 
Father  of  your  being.    Do  not  be  afraid  that  if  you 


112 


Ninth  Lesson 


begin  to  pray  you  will  be  too  "orthodox       You  are 
not  going  to  supplicate  a  God  who  has  already  given 
you  "all  things  whatsoever  ye  desire.       You  have 
already  learned  that  before  you  call  he  has  sent  that 
which  you  desire;  otherwise  you  would  not  desire  it. 
You  know  better  than  to  plead  to  or  beseech 
God  with  an  unbelieving  prayer.    But  spending  the 
first  few  moments  of  your  silence  to  the  outside 
world,  in  speaking  directly  to  the  Father,  centers 
your  mind  on  the  Eternal.    Many  who  earnestly  try 
to  get  still  and  wait  upon  God  have  found  that  the 
moment  they  sit  down  and  close  dieir  eyes,  the 
thoughts,  instead  of  being  concentrated,  are  tilled 
with  every  sort  of  vain  imagination.     The  most 
trivial  things,  from  the  fixing  of  a  shoe-string  to  the 
gossipy  conversation  of  a  week  ago.  will  chase  each 
other  in  rapid  succession  through  the  mmd.  and  at 
the  end  of  an  hour  they  have  gamed  nothmg.     1  his 
is  to  them  discouraging. 

This  is  but  a  natural  result  of  trymg  not  to  think 
at  all  Nature  abhors  a  vacuum,  and  if  you  make 
(or  try  to)  your  mind  a  vacuum,  the  thought  raiages 
of  others,  which  fill  the  atmosphere  about  you,  will 
rush  in  to  fill  it.  leaving  you  as  far  away  from  the 
consciousness  of  the  Divine  Presence  as  ever.    You 


Finding  the  Secret  Place 


113 


can  prevent  this  by  beginning  your  silence  with 
prayer. 

It  is  always  easier  for  the  mind  to  say  realizingly, 
"Thy  will  is  being  done  in  me  now,"  after  having 
prayed,  "Let  thy  will  be  done  in  me."  It  is  always 
easier  to  say  with  realization,  "God  flows  through 
me  as  life  and  peace  and  power,"  after  having 
prayed,  "Let  thy  life  flow  through  me  anew  while  I 
wait."  Of  course  it  does  not  change  God's  attitude 
towards  us,  but  it  is  easier  for  the  human  mind  to 
take  several  successive  steps  with  firmness  and  assur- 
ance than  for  it  to  take  one  big,  bold  leap  to  a  point 
of  eminence  and  hold  itself  steady  there.  While 
you  are  thus  concentrating  your  thoughts  upon  God, 
in  definite  conversation  with  the  Author  of  your 
being,  no  outside  thought  images  can  possibly  rush 
in  to  torment  or  distract  you.  Your  mind,  instead 
of  being  open  and  negative  towards  the  external,  is 
closed  to  it,  and  open  only  to  God,  the  Source  of 
all  the  good  you  desire. 

Of  course  there  is  to  be  no  set  form  of  words 
used.  But  sometimes  using  words  like,  for  instance, 
the  first  few  verses  of  the  103d  Psalm,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  silent  communion,  makes  it  a  matter  of 
face-to-face  speaking:  "Thou  forgivest  all  my  in- 
iquities [or  mistakes]  ;  thou  healest  all  my  diseases; 


114 


Ninth  Lesson 


thou  redeemest  my  life  from  destruction,  and  crown- 
est  me  with  lovingkindness,  now,  now,  while  I  wait 
upon  thee;"  sometimes  entering  into  the  innermost 
with  the  words  of  a  familiar  hymn,  as 

"Thou  art  the  Life  within  me, 
O  Christ,  thou  King  of  kings; 
Thou  art  thyself  the  answer 
To  all  my  questionings." 

Repeat  the  words  over  many  times,  not  anxiously 
nor  with  strained  effort,  not  reaching  out  and  up 
and  away  off  to  an  outside  God;  but  let  it  be  the 
quiet,  earnest  uplifting  of  the  heart  to  a  higher  some- 
diing  right  within  itself,  even  to  the  "Father  in  me." 
Let  it  be  with  the  quietness  and  assurance  of  a  child 
speaking  to  its  loving  father. 

Too  many  people  carry  in  their  faces  a  strained, 
white  look  that  comes  from  an  abnormal  "sitting  in 
the  silence,"  as  they  term  it.  It  is  hard  for  them  to 
know  that  God  is  right  here  within  them,  and  when 
sitting  they  fall  into  the  way  of  reaching  away  out 
and  up  after  him.  Such  are  earnest  souls  truly  feel- 
ing after  God  if  haply  they  may  find  him,  when  all 
the  time  he  is  near  them,  even  in  their  very  hearts. 
Do  not  reach  out  thus.  This  is  as  though  a  seed 
were  planted  in  the  earth,  and  just  because  it  recog- 
nized a  vivifying,  life-giving  principle  in  the  sun's 


Finding  the  Secret  Place 


115 


rays,  it  began  to  strain  and  stretch  itself  upward  and 
outward  to  get  more  of  the  sun.  You  can  see  at  a 
glance  that  by  so  doing  it  would  get  no  solid  root 
whatever  in  the  earth  where  God  intended  it  to  be. 
All  the  plant  needs  to  do  is  to  keep  its  face  turned 
toward  the  sun,  and  lei  itself  be  drawn  upward  by 

the  sun. 

Some  of  us,  in  our  desire  to  grow,  and  having 
recognized  the  necessity  of  waiting  upon  God  in  the 
stillness  for  the  vivifying  and  renewal  of  life,  make 
the  mistake  of  climbing  up  and  away  from  our  body. 
Such  abnormal  outstretching  and  upreaching  is 
neither  wise  nor  profitable.  After  a  little  of  it  one 
begins  to  get  cold  feet  and  congested  head.  While 
the  soul  is  thus  reaching  out  the  body  is  left  alone, 
and  it  becomes  correspondingly  weak  and  negative. 
This  is  all  wrong.  We  are  not  to  reach  out  away 
from  the  body  even  after  the  Sun  of  Righteousness. 
We  are  rather  to  be  still,  and  let  the  Sun  shine  on 
us  right  where  we  are.  Why,  the  sun  draws  the 
seed  up  as  fast  as  it  can  bear  it  and  be  strong.  We 
have  not  got  to  grow  ourselves,  only  to  let  the  Sun 

grow  us. 

But  we  are  to  consciously  let  it;  not  merely  to 
take  the  attitude  of  negatively  letting  it  by  not  op- 
posing it,  but  put  ourselves  consciously  where  the 


116 


Ninth  Lesson 


Sun  can  shine  upon  us,  and  then  "be  still  and  l^norv* 
that  while  we  wait  there  it  is  doing  the  work.  While 
waiting  upon  God  we  should,  as  much  as  possible, 
relax  ourselves  both  mentally  and  physically.  To 
use  a  very  homely  but  practical  illustration,  take 
much  such  dj\  attitude  of  the  entire  being  as  do  the 
fowls  when  taking  a  sun-bath  in  the  sand.  And  yet 
there  is  something  more  than  a  dead  passivii})  to  be 
maintained  through  it  all.  There  must  be  a  sort  of 
conscious  active  taking  of  that  which  God  gives 
freely  to  the  waiting  soul. 

Let  me  see  if  I  can  make  it  plain.  We  first  with- 
draw ourselves  bodily  and  mentally  from  the  outside 
world.  We  "enter  into  thy  closet  and  shut  the 
door"  (the  closet  of  our  being,  the  very  innermost  of 
ourselves),  by  turning  our  thoughts  within.  Just 
say,  "Thou  abidest  within  me;  thou  art  alive  there 
now;  thou  hast  all  power;  thou  art  now  the  answer 
to  all  I  desire;  thou  dost  now  radiate  thyself  from 
the  center  of  my  being  to  the  circumference,  and  out 
into  the  visible  world  as  the  fullness  of  my  desires." 
Then  be  still,  absolutely  still.  Relax  every  part  of 
your  being,  and  believe  that  it  is  being  done.  The 
Divine  Substance  does  flow  in  at  the  center  and  out 
into  the  visible  world  every  moment  you  wait ;  for  it 
is  an  immutable  law  that  "he  that  asketh  receiveth," 


Finding  the  Secret  Place 


117 


and  it  will  come  forth  as  the  "fulfillment  of  your 
desire"  if  you  expect  it  to.  "According  to  your 
faith  be  it  unto  you." 

If  you  find  your  mind  wandering,  bring  it  right 
back  by  saying  again,  "It  is  being  done;  thou  art 
working  in  me;  I  am  receiving  that  which  I  desire, 
etc.  Do  not  look  for  signs  and  wonders,  but  just 
be  still  and  k^ow  that  the  very  thing  you  want  is 
flowing  in,  and  will  come  forth  into  manifestation 
either  at  once  or  a  little  further  on. 

Go  even  beyond  this  and  speak  words  of  thanks- 
giving to  this  innermost  Presence,  that  it  has  heard 
and  answered,  that  it  does  now  come  forth  in  visi- 
bility. There  is  something  about  the  mental  act  of 
thanksgiving  that  seems  to  carry  the  human  mind 
far  beyond  the  region  of  doubt  into  the  clear  atmos- 
phere of  faith  and  trust,  where  "all  things  are  pos- 
sible." Even  if  at  first  you  are  not  conscious  of 
having  received  anything  from  God,  do  not  worry 
or  cease  from  your  thanksgiving.  Do  not  go  back 
of  it  again  to  the  asking,  but  continue  giving  thanks 
that  while  you  waited  you  did  receive,  and  that  it  is 
now  manifest ;  and  believe  me,  you  will  soon  rejoice 
and  give  thanks,  not  rigidly  from  sense  of  duty,  but 
because  of  the  sure  manifest  fulfillment  of  your 
desire. 


118 


Ninth  Lesson 


Do  not  let  waiting  in  silence  become  a  bondage 
to  you.  If  you  find  yourself  getting  into  a  strained 
attitude  of  mind,  or  "heady,"  get  up  and  go  about 
some  external  work  for  a  time.  Or,  if  you  find  your 
mind  will  wander,  do  not  insist ;  for  the  moment  you 
get  into  a  rigid  mental  attitude  you  shut  off  all  in- 
flow of  the  Divine  into  your  consciousness.  There 
must  be  a  sort  of  relaxed  passivity,  and  yet  an  active 
taking  it  by  faith.    Shall  I  call  it  an  active  passivity  ? 

Of  course,  as  we  go  on  in  spiritual  understanding 
and  desire,  we  very  soon  come  to  the  place  where 
we  want  more  than  anything  else  that  the  desires  of 
Infinite  Wisdom  and  Love  be  fulfilled  in  us.  **My 
thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  neither  are  your 
ways  my  ways,  saith  the  Lord.  For  as  the  heavens 
are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  my  ways  higher 
than  your  ways,  and  my  thoughts  than  your 
thoughts." 

Our  desires  are  God's  desires,  but  in  a  limited 
degree.  And  we  soon  throw  aside  our  limitations, 
our  circumscribed  desires  (as  soon,  at  least,  as  we 
see  that  more  of  God  meaois  more  of  good  and  joy 
and  happiness),  and  with  all  our  souls  cry  out  in 
the  silent  sitting,  "Fulfill  thy  highest  thought  in  me 
now!"  We  make  ourselves  as  clay  in  the  potter's 
hands,  willing  to  be  molded  anew,  to  be  "changed 


Finding  the  Secret  Place 


119 


into  the  same  image,"  to  be  made  after  the  mind  of 
the  indwelling  Christ. 

We  repeat  from  time  to  time,  while  waiting, 
words  something  like  these:  "Thou  art  now  renew- 
ing me  according  to  thy  highest  thought  for  me; 
thou  art  radiating  thy  very  Self  throughout  my  entire 
being,  making  me  like  unto  thyself,  for  there  is 
nothing  else  but  thee.  Father,  I  thank  thee,  I  thank 
thee."  Be  still,  be  still  while  he  works.  "Not  by 
might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts." 

While  you  thus  wait,  and  let  him,  he  will  work 
marvelous  changes  in  you.  You  will  have  a  strange, 
new  consciousness  of  serenity  and  quiet,  a  feeling 
that  something  has  been  done,  that  some  new  power 
to  overcome  has  come  unto  you.  You  will  be  able 
to  say,  "I  and  the  Father  are  one,"  with  a  new 
meaning,  a  new  sense  of  reality  and  awe  that  will 
make  you  feel  very  still.  Oh,  how  one  conscious 
touch  of  the  Oversoul  makes  all  life  seem  different ! 
All  the  hard  things  become  easy;  the  troublesome 
things  no  longer  have  power  to  worry;  the  rasping 
people  and  things  of  the  world  lose  all  their  afore- 
time power  to  annoy.  Why?  Because,  for  the 
time,  we  see  things  from  the  Christ  side  of  ourselves; 
we  see  as  he  sees.     We  do  not  have  to  deny  evil; 


120 


Ninth  Lesson 


we  k^oTv  in  that  moment  that  it  is  nothing  at  all. 
We  no  longer  rigidly  affirm  the  good  from  sense  of 
duty,  but  with  delight  and  spontaneity,  because  we 
cannot  help  it.  It  is  revealed  to  us  as  good.  Faith 
has  become  reality. 

Do  not  be  discouraged  if  you  do  not  at  once  get 
conscious  results  in  this  silent  sitting.  Every  mo- 
ment that  you  wait  the  Spirit  is  working  to  make 
you  a  new  creature  in  Christ — a  creature  possessing 
consciously  his  very  own  qualities  and  powers. 
There  may  be  a  working  for  days  before  you  see 
any  change ;  but  it  will  surely  come.  And  you  will 
soon  get  so  you  can  go  into  the  silence,  into  con- 
scious communion  with  your  Lord,  at  a  moment's 
notice,  at  any  time,  in  any  place. 

There  is  no  conflict  or  inconsistency  between  this 
waiting  upon  God  to  be  made  perfect,  and  the  way 
of  "speaking  the  word"  out  toward  the  external  to 
make  perfection  visible.  Waiting  upon  and  con- 
sciously receiving  from  the  Source  only  makes  the 
outspeaking  (the  holding  of  right  thoughts  and 
words)  easy,  instead  of  laborious.    Try  it  and  see. 

Clear  revelation — the  word  made  alive  as  truth 
to  our  consciousness — must  come  to  every  soul  who 
continues  to  wait  upon  God.  But  remember,  there 
are  two  conditions  imposed.    You  are  to  rvait  upon 


Finding  the  Secret  Place 


121 


God,  not  simply  to  run  in  and  out,  but  to  abide,  to 
dwell  in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High. 

Of  course  I  do  not  mean  that  you  are  to  give  all 
the  time  to  sitting  alone  in  meditation  and  silence, 
but  that  your  mind  shall  be  continually  in  an  attitude 
of  waiting  upon  God,  an  attitude  not  of  clamoring 
for  things,  but  of  listening  for  the  Father's  voice 
and  expecting  a  manifestation  of  the  Father  to  your 
consciousness. 

Jesus,  our  Master  in  spiritual  knowledge  and 
power,  had  many  hours  of  lone  communion  with  his 
Father,  and  his  greatest  works  were  done  after 
these.  So  may  we,  so  must  we,  commune  alone  with 
the  Father  if  we  would  manifest  the  Christ.  But 
Jesus  did  not  spend  all  his  time  in  receiving.  He 
poured  forth  into  everyday  use,  among  the  children 
of  men  in  the  ordinary  vocations  of  life,  that  which 
he  received  of  his  Father.  His  knowledge  of  spir- 
itual things  was  used  constantly  to  uplift  and  help 
other  people.  We  must  do  likewise;  for  newness  of 
life  and  revelation  flows  in  the  faster  as  we  give  out 
that  which  we  have  to  help  others.  **Go  teach  and 
preach  and  heal,"  he  said.  Go  manifest  the  Christ 
within  you,  which  ye  have  received  of  the  Father. 
God  works  in  us  to  will  and  to  do,  but  we  must 
work  out  our  salvation. 


122 


Ninth  Lesson 


TTie  second  indispensable  condition  of  finding 
the  secret  place  and  abiding  in  it  is  "my  expectation 
is  from  Him" — "My  soul,  wait  thou  only  upon 
God;  for  my  expectation  is  from  him."  "Truly  in 
vain  is  salvation  hoped  for  from  the  hills,  and  from 
the  multitude  of  mountains:  truly  in  the  Lord  our 
God  is  the  salvation  of  Israel."  "It  is  good  that  a 
man  should  both  hope  and  quietly  wait  for  the  sal- 
vation of  the  Lord." 

Is  your  expectation  from  him,  or  is  it  from  books, 
or  teachers,  or  friends,  or  meetings,  or  societies? 

"The  King  of  Israel,  even  the  Lord,  is  in  the 
midst  of  t/iee."  Think  of  it!  In  the  midst  of  thee 
— at  the  center  of  thy  being  this  moment  while  you 
read  these  words.  Say  it,  say  it,  think  it,  dwell 
upon  it,  whoever  you  are,  wherever  you  are !  In  the 
midst  of  thee!  Then  what  need  for  all  this  running 
around?  What  need  for  all  this  strained  outreach- 
ing  after  him? 

"The  Lord  thy  God  in  the  midst  of  thee  is 
mighty  [not  God  in  the  midst  of  another,  but  in  the 
midst  of  thee,  ih})self,  standing  right  where  you  are] ; 
he  will  save,  he  will  rejoice  over  thee  with  joy;  he 
will  rest  in  his  love,  he  will  joy  over  thee  with  sing- 
ing." You  are  his  love.  It  is  you  he  will  rejoice  in 
with  singing  if  you  will  turn  away  from  people  to 


Finding  the  Secret  Place 


123 


him  within  you.     And  his  singing  and  joy  will  so 
fill  you  that  your  life  will  be  a  great  thanksgiving. 

Your  Lord  is  not  my  Lord,  nor  my  Lord  your 
Lord.  Your  Lord  is  the  Christ  within  your  own 
being.     My  Lord  is  the  Christ  within  my  soul. 

One  Spirit,  one  Father  of  all,  in  us  all,  but  dif- 
ferent manifestations  or  individualities.  Your  Lord 
is  he  that  shall  deliver  you  out  of  all  your  troubles. 
Your  Lord  has  no  other  business  but  to  manifest 
himself  to  you  and  through  you,  and  so  make  you 
mighty  with  his  own  mightiness  made  visible,  whole 
with  his  health ;  perfect  by  showing  forth  the  Christ 
perfection. 

Let  all  your  expectation  be  from  your  Lord. 
Let  your  communion  be  with  him.  Wait  upon  this 
inner-abiding  Christ  often,  just  as  you  would  wait 
upon  any  visible  teacher.  When  you  are  sick,  "wait 
thou  only  upon  God"  as  the  Most  high,  rather  than 
upon  healers.  When  you  lack  wisdom  in  small  or 
large  matters,  "wait  thou  upon  God,"  and  see  what 
marvelous  wisdom  for  action  will  be  given  you. 
When  desiring  to  speak  the  word  which  shall  de- 
liver another  from  the  bondage  of  sickness  or  sin  or 
sorrow,  "wait  thou  upon  God,"  and  just  exactly 
the  right  word  will  be  given  you,  and  power  will  go 
with  it ;  for  it  will  be  alive  with  the  Spirit. 


SPIRITUAL  GIFTS 

TENTH  LESSON 

It  IS  very  natural  for  the  human  heart  to  first  set 
out  in  search  of  truth  because  of  the  "loaves  and 
fishes." 

Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  ma- 
jority of  people  first  turn  to  God  because  of  some 
weakness,  some  failure,  some  almost  unbearable 
want  in  their  lives.  After  having  tried  every  other 
way  in  vain  to  overcome  or  satisfy  the  want,  they 
turn  in  sheer  desperation  to  God. 

There  is,  down  in  the  hidden  depths  of  even  the 
most  depraved  human  heart,  though  he  would  not 
for  worlds  have  others  know  it,  an  instinctive  feeling 
that  somewhere  there  is  a  power  that  is  able  to  give 
him  just  what  he  wants ;  and  that  if  he  could  only 
reach  that  which  to  his  conception  is  God,  he  could 
prevail  upon  him  to  grant  his  desires.  This  feeling 
is  itself  God-given.  It  is  the  Divine  Self,  though 
only  a  spark  at  the  center  of  the  man's  being,  sug- 
gesting to  him  the  true  remedy  for  all  his  ills. 

Especially  have  people  been  led  to  seek  the  truth 
for  the  reward,  or  "for  the  work's  sake,"  during  the 

124 


Spiritual  Gifts 


125 


last  few  years,  since  they  have  come  to  know  that 
God  is  not  only  able,  but  willing,  to  be  made  unto 
them  perfect  deliverance  from  all  the  burdens  of 
their  everyday  life.  Every  one  wants  to  be  free, 
free,  free  as  the  birds  of  the  air — free  from  sickness, 
free  from  suffering,  free  from  bondage,  free  from 
poverty,  free  from  all  forms  of  evil ;  and  they  have  a 
right  to  be;  it  is  a  God-given  desire,  and  a  God- 
given  right. 

Thus  far  nearly  all  teaching  has  limited  the 
manifestation  of  Infinite  Love  to  one  form — ^that  of 
healing.  Sickness,  incurable  disease  and  suffering 
reigned  on  every  side,  and  every  sufferer  wanted  to 
be  free.  We  had  not  yet  known  that  there  was 
willingness  as  there  was  power — aye,  more,  that 
there  was  intense  desire  on  the  part  of  our  Father 
to  give  us  something  more  than  sweet,  patient  sub- 
mission to  suffering. 

When  the  truth  that  Divine  Presence  ever  lives 
in  man  as  perfect  life,  and  can  be  drawn  upon  by 
our  recognition  and  faith  to  come  forth  into  full  and 
abounding  health,  was  first  taught,  it  attracted  wide- 
spread attention,  and  justly  so.  Both  teachers  and 
students  centered  their  gaze  upon  this  one  branch  or 
outcome  of  a  spiritual  life,  losing  sight  of  any  larger, 
fuller  or  more  complete  manifestation  of  the  indwell- 


126 


Tenth  Lesson 


ing  Father.  Teachers  told  all  their  pupils  most  em- 
phatically that  this  knowledge  of  the  truth  would 
enable  them  to  heal,  and  they  devoted  all  their 
teaching  to  explanation  of  the  principles  and  to  giv- 
ing formulae  and  other  instructions  for  healing  the 
body.  And  the  time  is  now  ripe  for  giving  larger 
and  broader  views  of  the  truth  about  spiritual  gifts. 

Healing  of  the  body  is  beautiful  and  good. 
Power  to  heal  is  a  divine  gift,  and  as  such  you  are 
fully  justified  in  seeking  it.  But  God  wants  to  give 
you  infinitely  more. 

Why  should  you  or  I  limit  the  Limitless  One  to 
the  bestowal  of  a  particular  gift,  unless,  indeed,  we 
be  so  fairly  consumed  with  an  inborn  desire  for  it 
that  we  are  sure  it  is  God's  highest  desire  for  us?  In 
that  case  we  will  not  have  to  "try"  to  heal.  Heal- 
ing will  flow  from  us  wherever  we  are.  Even  in  a 
mixed  crowd  of  people,  without  any  effort  of  our 
own,  the  one  who  needs  healing  will  receive  it  from 
us;  that  one  will  "touch"  us,  as  did  the  one  woman 
in  all  the  multitude  jostling  and  crowding  against 
Jesus.    Only  one  touched  him. 

Healing  is  truly  **a  branch  of  the  vine,"  but  it  is 
not  the  only  branch.  There  are  many  branches,  all 
of  which  are  necessary  to  the  Perfect  Vine,  which 
is  seeking  through  you  and  me  to  bear  much  fruit. 


Spiritual  Gifts 


127 


What  God  wants  is  that  we  shall  grow  into  such 
conscious  oneness  with  himself,  such  realization  that 
he  who  is  the  substance  of  all  good  really  abides  in 
us,  that  "pe  shall  ask  Ti^hat  ye  wilU  and  it  shall  be 
done  unto  you" 

If  you  are  faithfully  and  earnestly  Irving  what 
truth  you  know,  and  still  find  your  power  to  heal 
is  not  as  great  as  it  was  at  first,  recognize  it  as  all 
good.  Be  assured,  no  matter  what  any  one  else 
says  to  you  or  thinks,  that  the  seeming  failure  does, 
not  mean  loss  of  power.  It  means  that  you  are  to» 
let  go  of  the  lesser  in  order  that  you  may  grasp  the- 
whole,  in  which  the  lesser  is  included.  Do  not  fear 
for  a  moment  to  let  go  just  this  one  little  branch  of 
divine  power,  and  choose  rather  to  have  the  highest 
thoughts  of  Infinite  Mind,  let  them  be  what  they 
may,  fulfilled  through  you.  We  need  to  take  our 
eyes  off  the  ends  of  the  branches,  the  results,  and 
keep  them  centered  in  the  Vine. 

You  are  a  vessel  for  some  purpose.  And  if  you 
let  go  cheerfully  when  the  time  comes,  without  hu- 
miliation or  shame  or  sense  of  failure,  your  tense, 
rigid  mortal  grasp  on  some  particular  form  of  mani- 
festation, like  healing,  and  "covet  earnestly  the  best 
gifts,"  whatever  they  may  be  in  your  individual  case, 
you  will  do  "works"  in  that  one  specific  direction 


128 


Tenth  Lesson 


which  will  be  simply  marvelous  in  the  eyes  of  all 
men.  These  works  will  be  done  without  effort  on 
your  part,  because  they  will  be  God,  Omnipotent, 
Omniscient,  manifesting  himself  through  you  in  his 
own  chosen  direction. 

St.  Paul  says:  **Now  concerning  spiritual  gifts, 
brethren,  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant.  .  .  . 
There  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit. 
.  .  .  For  to  one  is  given  by  the  Spirit  the  word  of 
wisdom;  to  another  the  word  of  knowledge  by  the 
same  Spirit;  ...  to  another  faith;  ...  to  an- 
other the  gifts  of  healing;  ...  to  another  the 
working  of  miracles;  to  another  prophecy;  to  an- 
other discerning  of  spirits;  to  another  divers  kinds 
of  tongues,"  etc. 

The  same  Spirit,  always  and  forever  the  same, 
and  one  God,  one  Spirit,  but  in  different  forms  or 
manifestation.  Gift  of  healing  no  more,  no  greater, 
than  the  gift  of  prophecy ;  gift  of  prophecy  no  greater 
than  faith,  for  faith  (when  it  is  really  God's  faith 
manifest  through  us),  even  as  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  shall  be  able  to  remove  mountains;  the  work- 
ing of  miracles  no  greater  than  the  power  to  discern 
spirits  (or  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  other  men's 
hearts  which  are  open  always  to  Spirit).  And 
"greatest  of  all  these  is  love;"  for  "love  never  fail- 


Sptritual  Gifts 


129 


eth"  to  melt  down  before  it  all  forms  of  sin,  sorrow, 
sickness  and  trouble.     Love  never  faileth. 

"But  all  these  worketh  that  one  and  the  selfsame 
Spirit,  dividing  to  every  man  severally  as  he  will. 
.  .  .  For  the  body  is  not  one  member,  but  many. 
.  .  .  If  the  whole  body  were  an  eye  [or  gift  of 
healing],  where  were  the  hearing?  If  the  whole 
were  hearing,  where  were  the  smelling?  .  .  .  And 
the  eye  cannot  say  unto  the  hand,  I  have  no  need  of 
thee :  nor  again  the  head  to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need 
of  you.  .  .  .  But  now  hath  God  set  the  members 
every  one  of  them  in  the  body,  as  it  hath  pleased 
him" 

Thus  St.  Paul  has  enumerated  some  of  the  free 
"gifts'*  of  the  Spirit  to  those  who  will  not  limit  the 
manifestations  of  the  Holy  One,  but  yield  them- 
selves to  Spirit's  desire  within  them.  Why  should 
we  so  fear  to  abandon  ourselves  to  the  workings  of 
Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom!  Why  be  so  afraid  to 
let  him  have  his  own  way  with  us,  and  through  us! 

Has  not  the  gift  of  healing,  the  only  gift  we  have 
thus  far  sought,  been  a  good  and  blessed  one,  not 
only  to  ourselves,  but  to  all  with  whom  we  have 
come  in  contact? 

Then  why  should  we  fear  to  wait  upon  God  with 
a  perfect  willingness  that  the  Holy  Spirit  manifest 


130 


Tenth  Lesson 


Itself  through  us  as  it  will,  knowing  that  whatever 
the  manifestation,  it  will  be  good — all  good  to  us 
and  to  those  around  us! 

Oh,  for  more  souls  who  have  the  courage  to 
abandon  themselves  utterly  to  Infinite  Will — souls 
who  dare  let  go  of  every  human  being  for  guidance, 
and,  seeking  the  Christ  within  their  own  souls,  let  its 
manifestation  be  what  He  will ! 

Such  courage  might  possibly  mean,  and  prob- 
ably would  at  first,  a  seeming  failure,  a  going  down 
from  some  apparent  success  which  had  been  in  the 
past.  But  the  going  down  would  only  mean  a 
mighty  coming  up,  a  most  glorious  resurrection  of 
God  into  visibility  through  you  in  his  own  chosen 
way,  right  here  and  now.  The  failure,  for  the  time, 
would  only  mean  a  grand,  glorious  success  a  little 

further  on. 

Do  not  fear  failure,  but  call  failure  good ;  for  it 
really  is.  Did  not  Jesus  stand  an  utter  failure,  to 
all  appearances,  when  he  stood  dumb  before  Pilate, 
all  his  cherished  principles  come  to  naught,  unable 
(yes,  I  say  it — unable,  or  else  not  tempted  in  all 
points  as  we  are)  to  deliver  himself,  or  to  "demon- 
strate" over  the  agonizing  circumstances  of  his  posi- 
tion? 

But  had  he  not  failed  right  at  that  point,  there 


Spiritual  Gifts 


131 


never  could  have  been  the  infinitely  grander  demon- 
stration of  the  resurrection  a  little  further  on.  "Ex- 
cept a  seed  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  cannot 
bring  forth  fruit.*'  If  you  have  clung  to  just  one 
form  of  spiritual  gift  because  you  were  taught  that, 
and  you  begin  to  fail,  believe  me,  it  is  only  the  death, 
the  disappearance  of  one  gift,  in  order  that  out  of  it 
may  spring  many  new  gifts — ^brighter,  higher,  fuller 
ones,  because  the  ones  God  has  chosen  for  you. 

Your  greatest  work  will  be  done  in  your  ovm 
God-appointed  channel.  If  you  will  let  Divine 
Spirit  possess  you  wholly,  if  you  will  Jpill  to  have  the 
Highest  Will  done  in  you  and  through  you  con- 
tinually, you  will  be  quickly  moved  by  it  out  of  your 
present  narrow  limitations,  which  a  half-success  al- 
ways indicates,  into  a  manifestation  as  much  fuller 
and  more  perfect  and  beautiful  as  is  the  new  grain 
than  the  old  seed  which  had  to  fall  into  the  ground 
and  die. 

Old  ways  must  die.  Failure  is  only  the  death  of 
the  old  that  there  may  be  the  hundredfold  following. 
If  there  comes  to  you  a  time  when  you  do  not  demon- 
strate over  sickness,  etc.,  as  you  did  at  first,  do  not 
run  outside  of  yourself  to  seek  some  healer.  It  is 
beautiful  and  good  for  another  to  "heal"  you  bodily 
by  calling  forth  Universal  Life  through  you;  but 


132 


Tenth  Lesson 


right  here  there  is  something  higher  and  better  for 
you. 

Spirit,  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  Cod  in  move- 
menU  wants  to  teach  you  something,  to  open  a  big- 
ger, brighter  way  to  you.  And  this  apparent  failure 
is  his  call  to  you  to  arrest  your  attention  and  turn 
you  to  him.  "Acquaint  now  thyself  with  him,  and 
be  at  peace:  thereby  good  shall  come  unto  thee." 
Turn  to  the  Divine  Presence  within  yourself.  Seek 
him.  Be  still  before  him.  Wait  upon  God  quietly, 
earnestly,  but  oh,  so  still  and  trustingly,  for  days — 
aye,  weeks,  if  need  be !  Let  him  work  in  you,  and 
sooner  or  later  you  will  spring  up  into  a  resurrected 
life  of  newness  and  power  that  you  never  before 
dreamed  of. 

When  these  transition  periods  come,  in  which 
God  would  lead  us  np  higher,  should  we  get  fright- 
ened or  discouraged,  and  run  off  to  seek  the  help  of 
some  healer  to  simply  be  made  physically  well,  we 
only  miss  the  lesson  he  would  teach,  and  so  postpone 
the  day  of  receiving  our  own  fullest,  highest  gift.  In 
our  ignorance  and  fear  we  are  thus  hanging  on  to 
the  old  grain  of  wheat  which  we  can  see,  not  daring 
to  let  it  go  into  the  ground  (of  failure)  and  die  (or 
fail),  lest  there  be  no  resurrection,  no  newness  of 
life,  nothing  bigger  and  grander  come  out  of  it. 


Spiritual  Gifts 


133 


Oh,  do  not  let  us  longer  fear  our  God,  who  is 
All-Good,  and  who  longs  only  to  make  us  each  one 
a  giant  instead  of  a  pigmy! 

What  we  all  need  to  do  above  everything  else  is 
to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  or  consciousness  of  the 
Spirit  within  our  own  being.  We  must  take  our 
attention  off  from  results,  and  seek  ^o  '^^^  ^''^  '^Z^- 
Results  will  be  "added  unto  us"  in  greater  measure 
when  we  turn  our  thoughts  less  to  the  "works"  and 
more  to  embodying  the  indwelling  Christ  into  our 
entire  being.  We  have  come  to  a  time  when  there 
must  be  less  talking  about  the  truth,  less  treating  and 
being  treated  merely  for  the  purpose  of  being  de- 
livered from  some  evil  result  of  wrong  living;  there 
must  be  more  living  the  truth,  and  teaching  others  to 
do  so.  TTiere  must  be  more  incorporating  of  the 
truth  into  our  very  flesh  and  bone. 

How  are  you  to  do  this? 

"I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,"  saith 
the  Christ  at  the  center  of  ^our  being. 

"I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches:  He  that 
abideth  [consciously]  in  me,  and  I  in  him  [in  his 
consciousness],  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit: 
for  without  me  [or  severed  from  me  in  your  con- 
sciousness] ye  can  do  nothing.    ...  If  ye  abide  in 


134 


Tenth  Lesson 


me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what 
ye  rvilU  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you." 

I  do  assure  you,  as  do  all  teachers,  that  you  can 
bring  good  things  of  whatever  kind  you  desire  into 
your  life  by  holding  to  them  as  yours  in  tl*e  invisible 
until  they  become  manifest.  But,  beloved,  do  you 
not  see  that  our  highest,  our  first — aye,  our  continual 
— thought  should  be  to  seek  the  abiding  in  him?  to 
seek  the  knowing  as  a  living  reality,  not  simply  as  a 
fine-spun  theory  that  he  abides  in  us?  then  ye  shall 
ask  what  ye  will,  be  it  power  to  heal,  to  cast  out 
demons,  or  even  the  "greater  works"  and  "it  shall 
be  done  unto  you." 

There  is  one  Spirit — "One  God  the  Father  of 
all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you 
all.  But  unto  every  one  of  us  is  given  grace  [or  free 
gift]  according  to  the  measure  of  the  gift  of  Christ" 
in  us. 

"Wherefore  I  put  thee  in  remembrance  that 
thou  stir  up  the  gift  of  GoJ,  Tvhich  is  in  thee** 

Do  not  be  afraid,  "for  God  hath  not  given  us 
the  spirit  of  fear;  but  of  power,  and  of  love,  and  of 
a  sound  mind." 

It  is  all  one  and  the  same  Spirit.  To  be  the 
greatest  success,  you  do  not  want  my  gift,  nor  I 
yours;  each  wants  his  own,  such  as  will  fit  his  size 


Spiritual  Cifts 


135 


and  shape,  his  capacity  and  desires,  such  as  not  the 
mortal  mind  of  us,  but  the  Highest  in  us,  shall 
choose.  Seek  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit ;  to  have  the 
soul  of  things  incarnated  in  larger  degree  in  your 
consciousness;  it  will  reveal  to  your  understanding 
your  own  specific  gift,  or  the  manner  of  God's  de- 
sired manifestation  through  you. 

Let  us  not  desert  our  own  work,  our  own  God 
within,  to  gaze  after  or  pattern  like  our  neighbor, 
neither  to  seek  to  make  his  gift  ours;  nor  yet  let  us 
criticize  his  failure  to  manifest  any  specific  gift. 
Whenever  he  "fails."  give  thanks  unto  God  that  he 
is  leading  him  up  into  a  higher  place,  where  there 
can  be  a  fuller  and  more  complete  manifestation  of 
the  Divine  Presence  through  him. 

And  "I  .  .  .  beseech  you  that  ye  walk  worthy 
of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye  are  called, 

"With  all  lowliness  and  meekness,  with  long- 
suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love; 

*' Endeavoring  to  ^eep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace** 


UNITY  OF  THE  SPIRIT 

ELEVENTH    LESSON 

Did  we  not  know  it  as  a  living  reality  that  be- 
hind all  the  multitude  and  variety  of  human  en- 
deavors to  bring  about  the  millennium  there  stands 
forever  the  Great  Master-Mind  which  sees  the  end 
from  the  beginning,  the  Great  Master-Artist  who 
himself  is  (through  human  vessels  as  his  hands)  put- 
ting here  a  touch  of  one  color  and  there  a  touch  of 
another,  according  to  the  vessel  used,  on  the  picture, 
we  might  sometimes  be  discouraged. 

Were  it  not  at  times  so  utterly  ridiculous,  it 
would  always  be  pitiful  to  see  the  human  mind  of 
man  trying  to  limit  God  to  personal  comprehension. 
However  much  any  one  of  us  may  know  of  God, 
there  will  always  be  unexplored  fields  in  the  realms 
of  expression,  and  it  is  an  evidence  of  our  narrow 
vision  to  say,  **This  is  all  there  is  of  God." 

Suppose  a  dozen  people  are  standing  on  the  dark 
side  of  a  wall  in  which  are  various  sized  openings. 
Viewing  the  scene  outside  through  the  opening  as- 
signed to  him,  one  sees  all  there  is  within  a  certain 
radius.     He  says,  **I  see  the  whole  world ;  in  it  are 

136 


Unityf  of  the  Spirit 


137 


trees  and  fields."  Another,  through  a  larger  open- 
ing, has  a  more  extended  view;  he  says,  "I  see  trees 
and  fields  and  houses;  I  see  the  whole  world."  The 
next  one,  with  a  still  larger  opening,  exclaims,  "Oh, 
you  are  all  wrong !  I  alone  see  the  whole  world ;  I 
see  trees  and  fields  and  houses  and  rivers  and  ani- 
mals." 

The  fact  is,  each  one  looking  at  the  same  world 
sees  just  according  to  the  size  of  the  aperture  through 
which  he  is  looking,  and  he  limits  the  world  to  just 
his  own  circumscribed  view  of  it.  You  would  say 
at  once  that  such  limitation  was  only  a  mark  of  each 
man's  ignorance  and  narrowness.  Every  one  would 
pity  the  man  who  thus  displayed — aye,  fairly 
vaunted — ^his  ignorance. 

From  time  immemorial  there  has  been  schisms 
and  divisions  among  religious  sects  and  denomina- 
tions. And  now  with  the  newer  light  we  have,  even 
the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  one  God  immanent  in 
all  men,  many  still  cling  to  the  external  differences, 
so  postponing,  instead  of  hastening,  the  day  of  the 
millennium ;  at  least  they  postpone  it  for  themselves. 

I  want,  if  possible,  to  help  break  down  all  seem- 
ing "middle  walls  of  partition,"  even  as  Christ,  the 
living  Christ,  doth  in  reality  break  down  or  destroy 
all  real  walls  of  partition.    I  want  to  help  you  to  see 


138 


Eleventh  Lesson 


that  there  is  no  real  wall  of  difference  between  all 
the  various  sects  of  the  new  theology,  except  such  as 
appear  to  you  because  of  your  circumscribed  view. 
I  want  you  to  see.  if  you  do  not  already,  that  every 
time  you  try  to  limit  God's  manifestation  of  himself 
in  any  person  or  through  any  person,  in  order  to 
make  that  manifestation  conform  to  what  })ou  see  as 
truth,  you  are  only  crying  loudly,  "Ho,  every  one, 
come  and  view  my  narrowness  and  ignorance!" 

I  want  to  stimulate  you  to  lose  sight  of  all  dif- 
ferences, all  side  issues  and  lesser  things,  and  seek 
but  for  one  thing — i.  e.,  the  consciousness  of  the 
presence  of  an  indwelling  God  in  your  own  soul  and 
life.  And  believe  me,  just  as  there  is  less  separation 
between  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  the  nearer  they  get  to 
the  hub,  so  you  will  find  that  the  nearer  you  both 
come  to  the  Perfect  Center,  which  is  the  Father,  the 
less  difference  will  there  be  between  you  and  your 
brother. 

The  Faith  Healer,  he  who  professes  to  believe 
only  in  what  he  terms  "divine  healing"  (as  though 
there  could  be  any  other  healing  than  divine) ,  dif- 
fers from  the  so-called  Spiritual  Scientist  only  in  be- 
lieving that  he  must  ask,  seek,  knock,  importune,  be- 
fore he  can  receive ;  while  he  of  the  Science  teaching 
knows  that  he  has  already^  received  God's  free  gift 


Unity  of  the  Spirit 


139 


of  life  and  health  and  all  things,  and  that  by  speak- 
ing the  words  of  it  the  gifts  are  made  manifest. 
Both  get  like  results  (God  made  visible)  through 
faith  in  the  Invisible,  The  mind  of  the  one  is  lifted 
to  a  place  of  faith  by  asking  or  praying;  the  mind 
of  the  other  is  lifted  to  the  place  of  faith  by  speak- 
ing the  words  of  truth. 

Is  there  any  real  difference? 

The  Mental  Scientist  usually  scorns  to  be  classed 
with  either  of  the  other  two  sects.  He  loudly  de- 
clares that  "all  is  mind,"  and  that  all  the  God  he 
knows  or  cares  anything  about  is  the  invincible,  un- 
conquerable "I"  within  him,  which  nothing  can 
daunt  or  overcome. 

He  talks  about  conscious  mind  and  unconscious 
mind  and  subconscious  mind,  and  fancies  he  has 
something  entirely  different  and  infinitely  higher  than 
either  of  the  other  sects.  He  boldly  proclaims,  "I 
have  the  truth;  the  others  are  in  error,  too  ortho- 
dox," etc.,  and  thus  he  calls  the  world's  attention  to 
the  small  size  of  the  aperture  through  which  he  is 
looking  at  the  stupendous  whole. 

Beloved,  as  surely  as  you  and  I  live,  it  is  all  one 
and  the  same  truth.  There  may  be  a  distinction,  but 
it  is  without  a  difference. 

The  happy  Methodist  who  will  from  his  heart 


140 


Eleventh  Lesson 


exclaim,  "Praise  the  Lord!"  no  matter  what  hap- 
pens to  him,  and  who  thereby  finds  "all  things  work- 
ing together  for  good"  to  himself,  is  in  reality  say- 
ing the  "All  is  good"  of  the  metaphysician.  Each 
one  is  simply  "acknowledging  Me  [of  God,  Good] 
in  all  thy  ways,"  which  is  indeed  a  magical  wand, 
bringing  sure  deliverance  out  of  any  trouble  to  all 
who  faithfully  use  it. 

The  teachings  of  Spirit  are  intrinsically  the  same, 
because  Spirit  is  one.  I  heard  an  uneducated  little 
colored  woman  speak  in  a  most  orthodox  prayer 
meeting  some  time  ago.  She  knew  no  more  of  "sci- 
ence" than  a  babe  knows  of  Latin.  Her  whole  face, 
however,  was  radiant  with  the  light  of  the  Christ 
manifest  through  her.  She  told  how,  five  or  six  years 
before,  she  was  earnestly  seeking  to  know  more  of 
God  (seeking  in  prayer,  as  she  knew  nothing  about 
seeking  spiritual  light  from  people),  and  one  day,  in 
all  earnestness,  she  asked  that  some  special  word  of 
his  will  might  be  given  directly  to  her  as  a  sort  of 
private  message.  These  words  flashed  into  her  mind : 
"If  thine  eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full 
of  light.  .  .  .  No  man  can  serve  two  masters." 

She  had  read  these  words  many  times,  but  that 
day  they  were  illumined  by  the  Spirit,  and  she  saw 
that  to  have  an  eye  "single"  meant  seeing  but  one 


Unity  of  the  Spirit 


141 


porver  in  her  life;  while  she  saw  two  powers  (God 
and  devil.  Good  and  evil)  she  was  serving  two  mas- 
ters. From  that  day  to  this,  though  she  had  passed 
through  all  sorts  of  troublous  circumstances,  and 
trials  of  poverty,  illness  in  family,  intemperate  hus- 
band, etc.,  she  found  always  the  most  marvelous, 
full  and  complete  deliverance  out  of  them  all  by  res- 
olutely adhering  to  the  "single  eye" — seeing  God 
only.  She  would  not  even  look  for  ^  moment  at  the 
seeming  evil  to  combat  it  or  rid  herself  of  it,  because, 
as  she  said,  "Lookin*  at  God  with  one  eye  and  this 
evil  with  the  other  is  being  doufc/e-epeJ,  and  God 
tole  me  to  keep  my  eye  single." 

This  woman,  who  had  never  heard  of  any  "sci- 
ence," or  metaphysical  teaching,  or  laws  of  mind, 
was  compassing  and  actually  overcoming  all  the  trib- 
ulations of  this  world  by  positively  refusing  to  have 
anything  but  a  single  eye.  She  had  been  taught  in 
a  single  day  by  Infinite  Spirit  the  whole  secret  of 
how  to  banish  evil,  and  have  only  good  and  joy  in 
her.     Isn't  it  all  very  simple? 

At  center,  all  is  one  and  the  same  God  forever 
more.  And  I  believe  that  the  Hottentot,  the  veriest 
heathen  that  ever  lived,  he  who  worships  the  golden 
calf  as  his  highest  conception  of  God,  worships  God. 
His  mind  has  not  yet  expanded  to  a  place  where  he 


142 


Eleventh  Lesson 


can  grasp  any  idea  of  God  apart  from  a  visible  form^ 
something  that  he  can  see  with  human  eyes  and 
handle  with  fleshly  hands.  But  at  heart  he  is  seeking 
something  higher  than  his  present  conscious  self  to  be 
his  deliverance  out  of  evil. 

Are  you  and  I,  v^th  all  our  boasted  knowledge^ 
doing  anything  more  or  different? 

The  Spirit  at  the  center  of  even  the  heathen,  who 
IS  God's  child,  is  thus  seeking,  though  blindly,  its 
Father-God.  Shall  any  one  dare  to  say  that  it  will 
not  find  that  which  it  seeks — its  Father?  Shall  we 
not  rather  say  it  n?ill  find,  because  of  that  immutable 
law  that  "he  that  seeketh  findeth"? 

You  have  now  come  to  know  that  at  the  center 
of  your  being  God  (omnipotent  Power)  ever  lives. 
From  the  nature  of  your  relationship  to  him,  and 
by  his  own  inmiutable  laws,  you  may  become  con- 
scious of  his  presence  and  eternally  abide  in  him  and 
he  in  you. 

The  moment  any  soul  really  comes  to  recognize 
that  which  is  an  absolute  fact — viz,,  that  one  Spirit, 
even  the  Father,  who  being  made  manifest  in  the 
Son,  ever  lives  at  the  center  of  all  human  beings — 
he  will  know  that  he  can  cease  forever  from  any 
undue  anxiety  about  bringing  others  into  the  same 
external  fold  as  himself.     If  your  friend,  your  son. 


Unityj  of  the  Spirit 


143 


your  husband  or  brother,  does  not  see  the  truth  as 
you  see  it,  do  not  try  by  repeated  external  argument 
to  convert  him. 

"And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will 
draw  all  men  unto  me."  That  which  is  needed  is 
not  that  you  (the  mortal  which  is  so  fond  of  talk 
and  argument)  try  to  lift  up  your  brother.  The 
Holy  Spirit,  or  Christ  within  him,  declares,  "If  I 
be  lifted  up,  I  will  dram  him."  You  can  silently 
lift  up  this  "I"  within  the  man's  own  being,  and  it 
will  draw  the  man  up  unto — what?  Your  teach- 
ing?    No.     "Unto  me,"  the  divine  in  himself. 

If  your  beloved  one  seems  to  you  to  be  going  all 
wrong,  you  just  say  nothing  at  all.  Keep  your  own 
light  lifted  up  by  living  the  victorious  life  of  the 
Spirit.  And  then,  remembering  that  your  dear  one, 
as  well  as  yourself,  is  an  incarnation  of  the  Father, 
keep  him  silently  committed  to  the  care  of  his  own 
Divine  Spirit.  You  do  not  know  at  all  what  God 
wants  to  do  in  him;  you  never  can  know. 

You  do  know,  if  you  have  fully  recognized  the 
fact  of  the  same  God  dwelling  in  all  men  as  dwells 
in  you,  that  each  one's  own  Lord,  the  Christ  within 
himself,  will  make  no  mistake.  The  greatest  help 
you  can  give  to  any  soul  is  to  silently  tell  him  when- 
ever you  think  of  him,  "The  Holy  Spirit  lives  within 


144 


Eleventh  Lesson 


you;  he  cares  for  you,  is  working  in  you  that  which 
he  would  have  you  do,  and  is  manifesting  himself 
through  you."  Then  let  him  alone.  Be  at  perfect 
rest  about  him,  and  the  result  will  be  infinitely  more 
and  better  than  you  could  have  asked  or  thought. 

Keep  ever  in  mind  that  each  living  soul  in  all 
God's  universe  is  a  radiating  center  of  the  same 
Perfect  One,  some  radiating  more  and  some  less, 
according  to  the  awakened  consciousness  of  the  in- 
dividual. If  you  have  become  conscious  of  this  radi- 
ation in  yourself,  keep  your  thought  centered  right 
there,  and  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  will  radiate 
itself  out  from  you  in  all  directions  with  mighty 
power,  doing  without  noise  or  words  a  great  work 
in  lifting  others  up.  If  you  want  to  help  others  who 
are  not  yet  awakened  to  this  knowledge,  center  your 
thought  upon  this  same  idea  for  them — i.  e.,  that 
they  are  radiating  centers  of  the  All-Perfect.  Keep 
your  "epe  single''  for  them,  as  did  the  little  colored 
woman  for  herself,  and  Spirit  will  teach  them  more 
in  a  day  than  you  could  in  months  or  years. 

Throughout  all  the  ages  man  has  been  prone  to 
the  idea  of  separateness  instead  of  oneness.  He 
has  believed  himself  separate  from  God  and  separate 
from  other  men.  And  even  in  these  latter  days 
when  we  talk  so  much  about  oneness,  most  meta- 


Umt}f  of  the  Spirit 


145 


physical  teachers  manage  again  to  separate  God's 
children  from  himself,  by  saying  that  while  one  suf- 
fers the  other  knows  no  suffering,  nor  does  he  take 
cognizance  of  the  child's  suffering.  We,  his  chil- 
dren, forever  a  part  of  himself,  are  torn  and  lacer- 
ated, while  he,  knowing  nothing  of  this,  goes  sailing 
on  as  serenely  and  coldly  as  the  full  moon  sails 
through  the  heavens  on  a  winter  night. 

Little  wonder,  is  it,  that  many  to  whom  the  first 
practical  lessons  in  the  gospel  of  the  Christ  came  as 
liberation  and  power,  should  in  time  of  failure  and 
heartache  have  turned  back  to  the  old  limited  idea 
of  the  Fatherhood  of  God? 

There  is  no  real  reason  why  we,  having  come  to 
recognize  God  as  Infinite  Substance,  should  be  by 
this  recognition  deprived  of  the  familiar  Fatherly 
companionship  which  in  all  ages  has  been  so  dear  to 
the  human  heart.  There  is  no  necessity  for  us  to 
separate  God  as  substance  and  God  as  tender 
Father;  no  reason  why  we  should  not,  and  every 
reason  why  we  should,  have  both  in  one;  they  are 
one — God-Principle  outside  of  us  as  unchangeable 
law,  God  rvithin  us  as  tender,  loving  Father-Savior, 
who  sympathizes  with  our  every  sorrow. 

There  is  no  reason  why,  because  in  our  earlier 
years  some  of  us  were  forced  into  the  narrow  Puri- 


146 


Eleventh  Lesson 


tanical  limits,  which  stood  for  a  religious  belief,  we 
should  now  so  exaggerate  our  freedom  as  to  fancy 
we  are  entirely  self-sufficient,  and  shall  never  again 
need  the  sweet,  uplifting  communion  between  Father 
and  child.  The  created,  who  ever  "lives,  moves, 
and  has  his  being"  in  his  Creator,  needs  the  con- 
scious presence  of  that  Creator,  and  cannot  be  en- 
tirely happy  in  knowing  God  only  as  cold,  un- 
sympathetic principle.  Why  cannot  both  concep- 
tions find  lodgment  in  our  minds  and  hearts?  Both 
are  true,  and  both  are  necessary  parts  of  a  whole. 
The  two  were  made  to  go  together,  and  in  the  high- 
est cannot  be  separated, 

God  as  underlying  substance  of  all  things,  God 
as  principle,  is  unchanging,  and  does  remain  for- 
ever uncognizant  of  and  unmoved  by  the  changing 
things  of  time  and  sense.  It  is  true  that  God  as 
principle  does  not  feel  pain,  is  not  moved  by  the 
cries  of  the  children  of  men  for  help.  It  is  a  grand, 
stupendous  thought  that  this  power  is  all  unchang- 
ing law,  just  as  unchanging  in  its  control  of  our 
affairs  as  in  the  government  of  the  starry  heavens. 
One  is  fairly  conscious  of  his  entire  being  expanding 
into  grandeur  as  he  dwells  upon  the  thought. 

But  this  is  not  all,  any  more  than  the  emotional 
side  is  all.     True,  there  is  law;  but  there  is  gospel 


Unit}}  of  the  Spirit 


147 


also.  Nor  does  gospel  make  law  of  none  effect; 
it  fulfills  law.  God  is  principle,  but  God  is  indi- 
vidual also.  Principle  becomes  individualized  the 
moment  it  comes  to  dwell  in  external  manifestation 
in  a  human  body. 

Principle  does  not  change  because  of  pity  or 
sympathy,  "even  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children." 
The  **  Father  in  me"  alrva^s  moves  into  helpfulness 
when  called  upon  and  trusted.  It  is  as  though  In- 
finite Wisdom  and  Power,  who  is  Creator,  Up- 
holder, Father,  outside,  becomes  transformed  into 
Infinite  Love,  which  is  Mother,  with  all  of  warmth 
and  tender  helpfulness  which  that  word  implies, 
when  he  becomes  focalized,  so  to  speak,  within  a 
human  body. 

I  do  not  at  all  understand  it,  but  in  some  way 
this  Indwelling  One  does  move  to  lift  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  children  up,  and  place  it  parallel  with 
God,  Principle,  Law,  so  that  no  longer  two  are 
crossed,  but  the  two — aye,  the  three — the  human 
consciousness,  the  indwelling  individual  Father,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit — are  made  one.  In  every  life,  with 
our  present  limited  understanding  (Jesus  with  his 
greater  understanding  was  not  yet  exempt),  there 
comes  times  when  the  bravest  heart  goes  down  for 
the  moment  under  the  apparent  burdens  of  life; 


148 


Eleventh  Lesson 


times  when  the  strongest  intellect  bends  like  a  "reed 
shaken  in  the  wind,"  when  the  most  self-sufficient 
mind  feels  a  helplessness  which  wrings  from  it  a  cry 
for  help  from  the  **Rock  that  is  higher  than  I." 

Every  pure  metaphysician  either  has  reached,  or 
must  in  future  reach  this  place :  the  place  where  God 
as  cold  principle  alone  will  not  suffice  any  more  than 
in  the  past  God  as  personality  alone  could  wholly 
satisfy.  There  will  come  moments  when  the  human 
heart  is  so  suddenly  struck  as  to  paralyze  it,  and  for 
the  moment  make  it  impossible,  with  strained  effort, 
to  "think  right  thoughts." 

At  such  times  there  will  come  but  little  comfort 
from  the  thought,  "This  suffering  comes  as  the  result 
of  my  wrong  thinking;  but  God,  my  Father,  takes 
no  cognizance  of  it ;  I  must  work  it  out  unaided  and 
alone."  Just  here  we  must  have,  and  we  do  have, 
the  Motherhood  of  Cod,  which  is  not  cold  principle 
any  more  than  your  love  for  your  child  is  cold  prin- 
ciple. I  would  not  make  God-principle  less,  but 
God-individual  more. 

Your  Lord's  (the  Father  in  you)  whole  business 
is  to  care  for  you,  to  love  you  with  an  everlasting 
love,  to  note  your  slightest  cry  and  rescue  you. 

Then  you  ask,  **Why  doesn't  he  do  it?" 

Because  you  do  not  recognize  his  mdivellmg  and 


Unit}?  of  the  Spirit 


149 


his  power,  and  by  resolutely  affirming  that  he  does 
noiv  manifest  himself  as  your  all  sufficiency,  call 
him  forth  into  visibility. 

God  (Father-Mother)  is  a  present  help  in  time 
of  trouble;  but  there  must  be  a  recognition  of  this 
fact,  a  turning  away  from  human  efforts,  and  an 
acknowledgment  of  Cod  only  (a  single  eye)  before 
he  becomes  manifest. 


BONDAGE   OR   LIBERTY,   WHICH? 

TWELFTH    LESSON 

Finally,  my  brethren,  be  strong  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the 
power  of  his  might. — Eph.  6:10. 

Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatso- 
ever things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatso- 
ever things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever 
thmgs  are  of  good  report;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there 
be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things. — Phil  4:8. 

Every  soul  is  by  nature,  or  believes  itself  to  be, 
in  bondage  to  the  flesh  and  the  things  of  the  flesh. 
All  suffering  is  the  result  of  this  bondage.  The 
history  of  the  children  of  Israel  coming  up  out  of 
their  long  bondage  in  Egypt  is  descriptive  of  the 
human  soul,  or  consciousness,  growing  up  out  of  the 
animal  or  sense  part  of  man  and  into  the  spiritual 
part. 

"And  the  Lord  said  [speaking  to  Moses],  I 
have  surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people  which  are 
in  Egypt,  and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of 
their  taskmasters;  for  I  know  their  sorrows; 

"And  I  am  come  down  to  deliver  them  up  out 
of  that  land  unto  a  good  land  and  a  large,  unto  a 
land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey." 

These  words  express  exactly  the  attitude  of  the 

150 


Bondage  or  Liherfy,  Which? 


151 


Creator  toward  his  highest  creation  (man)  ever 
since. 

Today,  and  all  the  days,  he  has  been  saying  to 
us,  his  children:  "Surely  I  have  seen  the  affliction 
of  my  people  which  are  in  Egypt  [darkness  of 
Ignorance] ,  and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of 
their  taskmasters  [sickness,  sorrow  and  poverty] ; 
And  I  am  [not  I  will,  but  I  am  now]  come  down 
to  deliver  you  out  of  all  this  suffering,  and  to  bring 
you  up  unto  a  good  land  and  a  large,  unto  a  land 
flowing  with  good  things." 

Sometime,  somewhere,  every  human  soul  must 
come  to  itself.  Having  tired  of  eating  husks  it  will 
"arise  and  go  to  my  Father."  "For  it  is  written. 
As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  to  me  every  knee  shall 
bow,  and  every  tongue  shall  confess  to  God." 

This  does  not  mean  that  God  is  a  stern  autocrat, 
who,  by  reason  of  supreme  power,  will  compel  man 
to  bow  to  him.  It  is  rather  an  expression  of  the 
order  of  divine  law,  the  law  of  all  love,  all  good. 
Man,  who  is  at  first  living  in  the  selfish  animal  part 
of  himself,  shall  grow  up  through  various  stages  and 
by  various  processes  unto  the  divine  or  spiritual  un- 
derstanding where  he  knows  he  is  one  with  the 
Father,  and  where  he  is  free  from  all  suffering,  be- 
cause he  has  conscious  dominion  over  all  things. 


152 


Twelfth  Lesson 


Somewhere  on  this  journey  the  human  consciousness 
or  intellect  comes  to  a  place  where  it  gladly  bows  to 
and  confesses  that  its  spiritual  self,  its  Christ,  is  high- 
est, and  is  Lord.  Here  and  forever  after,  not  with 
sense  of  bondage,  but  with  joyful  freedom,  the  soul 
cries  out,  "The  Lord  reigneth."  Every  one  must 
sooner  or  later  come  to  this  point  of  experience. 

You  and  I,  dear  reader,  have  already  "come  to 
ourselves."  Having  become  conscious  of  an  op- 
pressive bondage,  we  have  arisen  and  set  out  on  the 
journey  from  Egypt  to  the  land  of  liberty,  and  now 
we  cannot  turn  back  if  we  would.  Though  possibly 
there  will  come  times  to  each  of  us  before  we  reach 
the  land  of  milk  and  honey  (the  time  of  full  de- 
liverance out  of  all  our  sorrows  and  troubles),  when 
we  will  come  into  a  deep  wilderness  or  up  against  an 
impassable  "Red  Sea,"  when  our  principle  seems  to 
fail,  yet  does  God  say  unto  each  one  of  us,  as  unto 
the  trembling  children  of  Israel,  "Fear  ye  not,  stand 
still,  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord,  which  he  will 
show  to  you." 

Each  soul  must  sooner  or  later  learn  to  stand 
alone  with  its  God;  nothing  else  avails.  Nothing 
else  will  ever  make  you  master  of  your  own  destiny. 
There  is  in  your  own  indwelling  Lord  all  the  life 
and  health,  all  the  strength  and  peace  and  joy,  all 


Bondage  or  Liberty,  Which? 


153 


the  wisdom  and  support  you  can  ever  need  or  desire. 
No  other  can  give  to  you  as  can  this  indwelling 
Father.     He  is  the  spring  of  all  joy  and  comfort 

and  power. 

Hitherto  we  have  believed  we  were  helped  and 
comforted  by  others,  that  we  received  joy  from  out- 
side circumstances  and  surroundings ;  but  it  is  not  so- 
All  joy  and  strength  and  good  spring  up  from  a 
fountain  within  one's  own  being;  and  if  we  only 
knew  this  truth  we  would  know  that,  because  God 
in  us  is  the  fountain  out  of  which  springs  all  our 
good,  nothing  that  any  one  does  or  says,  or  fails  to 
do  or  say,  can  take  away  our  joy  and  good. 

Some  one  has  said,  "Our  liberty  comes  from  an 
understanding  of  the  mind  and  thoughts  of  God 
toward  us."  Does  God  regard  man  as  his  servant, 
or  as  his  child?  Most  of  us  have  believed  ourselves 
not  only  the  slave  of  circumstances,  but  also,  at  the 
best,  the  servants  of  the  Most  High.  Neither  belief 
is  true.  It  is  time  for  us  to  awake  to  right  thoughts, 
to  know  that  we  are  not  servants,  but  children,  and 
if  children,  then  heirs.  Heirs  of  what?  Why,  heirs 
to  all  wisdom,  so  that  we  need  not  through  any  lack 
of  wisdom  make  mistakes ;  heirs  of  all  love,  so  that 
we  need  know  no  fear  or  envy  or  jealousy ;  heirs  of 
all  strength,  all  life,  all  power,  all  good. 


154 


Twelfth  Lesson 


The  human  intelligence  is  so  accustomed  to  the 
sound  of  words  heard  from  childhood,  that  often  to 
it  they  convey  no  real  meaning.  Do  you  stop  to 
think,  to  really  comprehend,  what  it  means  to  be  "an 
heir  of  God  and  joint  heir  with  Christ"?  It  means, 
as  Elmerson  says,  that  "Every  man  is  the  inlet,  and 
may  become  the  outlet,  of  all  there  is  in  God."  It 
means  that  all  that  God  is  and  has  is  in  reality  for 
us,  his  only  heirs,  if  we  only  know  how  to  claim  our 
inheritance. 

This  claiming  our  rightful  inheritance,  the  in- 
heritance which  God  Jvants  us  to  have  in  our  daily 
life,  is  just  what  we  are  learning  how  to  do  in  these 
simple  talks. 

Truly  Paul  said,  "That  the  heir,  as  long  as  he 
IS  a  child,  differeth  nothing  from  a  servant,  though  he 
be  lord  of  all; 

"But  is  under  tutors  and  governors  until  the  time 
appointed  of  the  father. 

"Even  so  we,  when  we  were  children  [in  knowl- 
edge], were  in  bondage  under  the  elements  of  the 
world : 

"But  when  the  fullness  of  the  time  was  come, 
God  sent  forth  his  Son.  .  .  .  And  because  pe  are 
sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into 


Bondage  or  Liberty,  Which? 


155 


your  hearts  [or  into  your  conscious  minds] ,  crying, 
Abba,  Father. 

"Wherefore  thou  art  no  more  a  servant,  but  a 
son;  and  if  a  son,  then  an  heir  of  God  through 

Christ." 

It  is  through  Christ,  this  indwelling  Christ,  that 
we  are  to  receive  all  that  God  has  and  is,  as  much 
or  little  as  we  can  or  dare  to  claim. 

No  matter  with  what  object  you  believed  you 
first  started  out  to  seek  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  it 
was  in  reality  because  it  was  God's  "fullness  of 
time"  for  you  to  raise  and  begin  to  claim  your  inheri- 
tance. You  were  no  longer  to  be  satisfied  with  or 
under  bondage  to  the  elements  of  the  world.  Think 
of  it!  God's  "fullness  of  time"  nor»  for  you  to  be 
free,  to  have  dominion  over  all  things  material,  to  be 
no  longer  bond  servant,  but  a  son  in  possession  of 
})our  inheritance!  "Ye  have  not  chosen  me,  but  I 
have  chosen  you,  and  ordained  you,  that  ye  should 
go  and  bring  forth  fruit." 

We  have  come  to  a  place  now  where  our  search 
for  the  truth  must  no  longer  be  for  the  rewards;  it 
must  no  longer  be  seeking  a  creed  to  follow,  but  it 
must  be  the  living  a  life.  In  these  simple  lessons 
we  have  just  taken  the  first  steps  out  of  the  Egyp- 
tian bondage  of  selfishness,  lust  and  sorrow,  toward 


156 


Twelfth  Lesson 


the  land  of  liberty  where  perfect  love  and  all  good 
reign. 

Every  right  thought  we  think,  every  unselfish 
word  or  action,  is  bound  by  immutable  laws  to  be 
fraught  with  good  results.  But  in  our  walk  we  must 
learn  to  lose  sight  of  results,  which  are  the  "loaves 
and  fishes."  We  must  seek  rather  to  consciously  be 
the  truth,  be  love,  be  wisdom,  be  life  (as  we  really 
are  unconsciously) ,  and  let  results  take  care  of  them- 
selves. 

Every  soul  must  take  time  daily  for  quiet  and 
meditation.  In  this  lies  the  secret  of  power.  No 
one  can  grow  in  either  spiritual  knowledge  or  power 
without  it.  Practice  the  presence  of  God  just  as 
you  would  practice  music.  No  one  would  ever 
dream  of  becoming  a  power  in  music  except  by 
spending  some  time  daily  alone  with  music.  Daily 
meditation  alone  with  God  seems  some  way  to  focus 
Divine  Presence  within  us  and  to  our  consciousness. 

You  may  be  so  busy  with  the  doing,  the  outgoing 
of  love  to  help  others  (which  is  unselfish  and  God- 
like as  far  as  it  goes),  that  you  find  no  time  to  go 
apart.  But  the  command  or  rather  the  invitation, 
is,  "Come  ye  apart  and  rest  awhile.'*  And  believe 
me,  it  is  the  only  way  you  will  ever  gain  definite 
knowledge,  newness  of  experience,  steadiness  of  pur- 


Bon  Jage  or  Liberty,  Which? 


157 


pose,  or  power  to  meet  the  unknown  which  must 
come  in  all  daily  life.  Doing  is  secondary  to  being. 
When  we  are  consciously  the  truth,  it  will  radiate 
from  us  and  accomplish  the  works  without  our  ever 
running  to  and  fro.  If  you  have  no  time  for  this 
quiet  meditation,  make  time,  take  time.  Watch 
carefully,  and  you  will  find  that  there  are  some 
things,  even  in  the  active  unselfish  doing,  which  can 
better  be  left  undone  than  that  you  neglect  regular 
concentrated  meditation. 

You  will  find  some  hours  spent  every  day  in  idle 
conversation  with  people  who  "just  run  in  for  a  few 
moments"  to  be  entertained.  If  you  can  help  such 
people,  well ;  if  not,  gather  yourself  together  and  not 
waste  a  moment  just  idly  diffusing  and  dissipating 
yourself  to  gratify  their  idleness.  You  have  no  idea 
what  you  lose  by  it. 

When  you  withdraw  from  the  world  for  medita- 
tion, let  it  not  be  to  think  of  yourself  or  your  fail- 
ures, but  invariably  to  get  all  your  thoughts  cen- 
tered on  God,  and  upon  your  relations  to  the  Cre- 
ator and  Upholder  of  the  universe.  Let  all  the  little 
sandpapering  cares  and  anxieties  go  for  a  while,  and 
by  effort,  if  need  be,  turn  your  thoughts  away  from 
them  to  some  of  the  simple  words  of  the  Nazarene  or 
Psalmist.    Think  of  some  truth,  be  it  ever  so  simple. 


158 


Twelfth  Lesson 


No  person,  unless  he  has  practiced  it,  can  have 
any  idea  of  how  it  quiets  one  from  all  physical  nerv- 
ousness, all  fear,  all  over-sensitiveness,  all  the  little 
raspings  of  everyday  life — just  this  hour  of  calm, 
quiet  waiting  alone  with  God.  Never  let  it  be  an 
hour  of  bondage,  but  always  one  of  restfulness. 

Some,  having  realized  the  calm  and  power  which 
come  of  daily  meditation,  have  made  the  mistake  of 
withdrawing  themselves  entirely  from  the  world  that 
they  may  give  the  entire  time  to  meditation.  This 
is  asceticism,  which  is  neither  wise  nor  profitable. 

The  Nazarene,  who  was  our  noblest  type  of  the 
perfect  life,  went  daily  apart  from  the  world  only 
that  he  might  come  again  into  it  with  renewed  spirit- 
ual power.  So  we  go  apart  into  the  stillness  of  Di- 
vine Presence  that  we  may  come  forth  into  the  world 
of  everyday  life  with  a  new  inspiration,  and  in- 
creased courage  and  power  for  activity  and  for 
overcoming. 

"We  talk  to  God — that  is  prayer;  God  talks  to 
us — that  is  inspiration,"  says  Lyman  Abbott.  We 
go  apart  to  get  still,  that  new  life,  new  inspiration, 
new  power  of  thought,  new  supplies  from  the  Foun- 
tainhead,  may  flow  in;  and  then  we  come  forth  to 
shed  it  all  abroad  upon  those  around  us,  that  they 
too  may  be  lifted  up.    Inharmony  cannot  remain  in 


Bondage  or  Liberty,  Wkich? 


159 


any  home  where  even  one  member  of  the  family 
daily  practices  this  hour  of  the  presence  of  God,  so 
surely  does  the  renewed  infilling  of  the  soul  by  peace 
and  harmony  result  in  the  continual  outgoing  of 
peace  and  harmony  into  the  entire  surroundings. 

Again,  in  this  new  way  which  we  have  under- 
taken, this  living  the  life  of  the  Spirit  instead  of  the 
old  self,  we  need  to  seek  always  to  have  more  and 
more  of  the  Christ  spirit  of  meekness  and  love  incor- 
porated into  our  daily  life.  Meekness  does  not  mean 
servility  nor  imbecility,  but  it  means  a  spirit  which 
could  stand  before  a  Pilate  of  false  accusation, 
"opening  not  his  mouth."  No  one  so  grand,  so 
Godlike  as  he  who,  because  he  knows  the  truth  of 
Being,  can  stand  meekly  and  imperturbed  before 
the  false  accusations  of  mortal  mind.  "Thy  gentle- 
ness hath  made  me  great,** 

We  must  forgive  as  we  would  be  forgiven.  To 
forgive  does  not  simply  mean  to  arrive  at  a  place  of 
indifference  to  those  who  do  personal  injury  to  our- 
selves; it  means  far  more  than  this.  To  forgive  is  to 
give  for — ^to  give  some  actual,  definite  good  in  return 
for  evil  given.  One  may  say,  "I  have  no  one  to  for- 
give; I  have  not  a  personal  enemy  in  the  world." 
Even  so;  and  yet  if,  under  any  circumstances,  any 
kind  of  a  "served-him-right"  spirit  springs  up  within 


160 


Tipelfth  Lesson 


you  over  anything  any  of  God's  children  may  do  or 
suffer,  you  have  not  yet  learned  how  to  forgive. 

The  very  pain  you  suffer,  the  very  failure  to 
demonstrate  over  some  matter  which  touches  your 
own  life  deeply,  may  rest  upon  just  this  spirit  of  un- 
forgiveness  which  you  harbor  toward  the  world  in 
general.     Put  it  away  with  resolution. 

Do  not  be  under  bondage  to  false  beliefs  about 
your  circumstances  or  environment.  No  matter  how 
evil  any  circumstances  may  seem,  nor  how  much  it 
may  seem  that  some  other  personality  is  at  the  foun- 
dation of  our  sorrow  or  trouble,  God,  good  and 
good  alone,  is  real  there  when  you  call  his  law  into 

expression. 

If  we  have  the  courage  to  persist  in  seeing  only 
God  in  it  all,  "even  the  wrath  of  man"  shall  be  in- 
variably turned  to  our  advantage.  Joseph,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  action  of  his  brethren  in  selling  him  into 
slavery,  said,  "As  for  you,  ye  thought  evil  against 
me;  but  God  meant  it  unto  good."  *'All  things 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,"  or 
to  them  who  recognize  only  God.  All  things! 
And  the  very  circumstances  in  your  life  that  seem 
torturing,  heart-breaking  evils  will  turn  to  joy  before 
your  eyes,  if  you  will  steadfastly  refuse  to  see  any- 
thing but  God  in  them. 


Bondage  or  Lihert^,  Which? 


161 


It  is  perfectly  natural  for  the  human  soul  to  seek 
to  escape  from  its  troubles  by  running  away  from 
present  environments,  or  planning  some  change  on 
the  material  plane.  Such  methods  of  escape  are  ab- 
solutely vain  and  foolish.  "Vain  is  the  help  of 
man"  or  mortal. 

There  is  no  permanent  or  real  outward  way  of 
escape  from  miseries  or  circumstances;  all  must  come 

from  rvithin. 

The  words,  "God  is  my  defense  and  deliver- 
ance," held  to  in  the  silence  until  they  become  part  of 
your  very  being,  will  deliver  you  out  of  the  hands 
and  the  arguments  of  the  keenest  lawyer  in  the  world. 

The  real  inner  consciousness  as  a  truth  that 
"The  Lord  is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want,"  will 
supply  all  my  wants  more  surely  and  far  more  liber- 
ally than  any  human  hand  can. 

The  ultimate  aim  of  every  soul  should  be  to 
come  into  the  consciousness  of  an  indwelling  God. 
And  then  in  all  external  matters  affirm  deliverance 
through  and  by  this  Divine  One.  There  should  not 
be  a  running  to  and  fro  of  the  mortal,  making  human 
efforts  to  aid  the  Divine,  but  a  calm,  restful,  un- 
wavering trust  in  All- Wisdom  and  All-Power 
within  to  accomplish  the  thing  desired. 

Victory  must  be  won  in  the  silence  of  your  own 


162 


Tufelfth  Lesson 


soul  first,  and  then  you  need  take  no  part  in  the  outer 
demonstration  or  relief  from  conditions.  The  very 
walls  of  Jericho  which  keep  you  from  your  desire 
must  fall  before  you. 

The  Psalmist  said:  "I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes 
unto  the  hills  [or  to  the  Highest  One] ,  from  whence 
Cometh  mp  help. 

"My  help  cometh  from  the  Lord,  which  made 
heaven  and  earth. 

"The  Lord  [thy  indwelling  Lord]  shall  pre- 
serve thee  from  all  evil. 

"The  Lord  shall  preserve  thy  going  out  and  thy 
coming  in  from  this  time  forth,  and  even  for  ever- 


more. 

Oh,  if  we  could  only  realize  that  this  mighty 
power  to  save  and  to  perfect,  to  deliver  and  to  make 
alive,  lives  forever  within  us,  and  so  cease  now  and 
always  to  look  away  to  others ! 

There  is  but  one  way  to  obtain  this  full  realiza- 
tion— the  way  of  the  Christ.  "I  am  the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life,"  spoke  the  Christ  through  the  lips 
of  the  Nazarene. 

Holding  to  the  words,  "Christ  is  the  way,"  when 
you  are  perplexed  and  confused,  and  can  see  no  way 
of  escape,  will  invariably  open  a  way  of  complete 
deliverance. 


When  you  have  studied  '^Lessons  in  Truth** 
carefully,  the  Unity  School  of  Christianity  recom- 
mends to  you  '"Christian  Healing,""  by  Charles  Fill- 
more, an  excellent  course  of  lessons  in  Practical 
Christianity. 


PUBLISHERS'  ANNOUNCEMENT 

Upon  the  title  page  of  this  volume  there  is 
printed  the  name  of  the  publisher.  Unity  School  of 
Christianity.  Those  interested  in  the  philosophy 
which  "Lessons  in  Truth"  teaches  will  no  doubt 
desire  to  know  more  of  the  School  that  is  promul- 
gating the  doctrine  of  Practical  Christianity.  For 
the  benefit  of  these,  a  brief  history  of  the  Unity 
work  is  here  given: 

The  Unity  School  had  its  inception  thirty  years 
ago  in  Kansas  City.  Mo.  It  has  always  been  an  in- 
dependent movement,  not  connecting  itself  with  any 
other  religious  organization.  It  is  a  revival  of  prim- 
itive Christianity  and  teaches  the  science  underly- 
ing the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  does  not  rep- 
resent a  new  sect ;  its  readers  and  followers  embrace 
hundreds  of  thousands,  many  of  whom  are  active  in 
their  denominational  churches. 

At  the  Unity  Headquarters  in  Kansas  City,  can 
be  found  a  large  band  of  workers  who  are  united  for 
the  one  purpose  of  spreading  the  gospel  of  Truth, 
which  is  life  and  health  to  all  people.  The  work  of 
the  School  has  developed  until  at  the  present  time 
it  occupies  several  large  buildings. 

The  School  publishes  a  monthly  magazine. 
Unity),  a  weekly  paper,  a  child's  magazine,  and 
numerous  books,  booklets  and  pamphlets.  A  com- 
plete catalogue  of  these  publications  will  be  sent 
gratis,  upon  request. 


INDEX 

Abundance  Already  Provided — 60. 

Access  to  the  Father — 12. 

Affirm,  to.  Is  to  Assert — 44.45. 

Affirmations,  by  Whom  to  Be  Used— 52. 

Affirmations  Deliver — 49.  50. 

Affirmations  for  Deliverance — 161. 

Affirmations.  Four  Comprehensive — 49.  ^ 

Affirmations.  Four  Great  Sweepmg— 46,  47    4tt.  4^. 

Affirmations  Hold  God  to  His  Laws— 45.  46. 

Affirmations  Not  Arbitrary  in  Form— 50   5 1 . 

Affirmations  and  Denials  Compared  m  Effect — !>1.  3^. 

Affirmations  and  Denials  Combined— 52. 

Affirmations  and  Denials.  Necessary  Self-traming— 4b. 

Affirmations  and  Denials.  Practice  of.  Gives  Mastery— 5 :J. 

Appearances  Are  Misleading — 35. 

Appearances.  Deny — 36. 

Asceticism  Not  Wise — 158. 

Asking  and  Receiving — 61.  62. 

Automatons.  We  Arc  Not — 22. 

Being,  but  One  Source  of — 12. 

Beliefs,  False.  Cause  of  All  Trouble— 32. 

Beliefs,  Wrong,  Wiped  from  Mmd  through  Demal— :54. 

Bible  Quotations 
Isaiah— 91,  92.  93. 

John  Baptist — 74. 
Jesus — 87,  88. 
Nazarene,  on  Asking — 30. 

Paul— 97,  135.  lOQ    19Q 

Paul,  Concerning  Spiritual  Gifts — 128,  129. 


u 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Paul,  on  Carnal  Mind — 15. 

Paul,  on  Faith— 55.  56.  61. 

Paul,  on  "Gift  of  God"— 134. 

Paul,  on  God  Unity  in  Mankind — 39. 

Paul,  on  "Power  that  Worketh  in  Us"— 106.  107. 

Paul,  on  Rule  for  Thinking — 23.  24. 

Paul,  on  Spiritual  Perception — 16,  17. 

Paul.  Showing  that  We  Are  Heirs  of  God — 154,  155. 

Psalmist — 50. 

Psalmist,  Showing  God  to  Be  Our  Deliverer — 162. 

Psalm  103—113,  114. 

Proverbs  of  Solomon — 80. 

Revelation,  the  New  Name — 99.  1 00. 

Bible  References 

Hebrews  11:1 — 55. 

Hebrews  1  I  :32-35— 55.  56. 

Isaiah  65:24 — 62. 

Job  22:27,  28—43. 

Matthew  16:24—28. 

Mark   11:23—54. 

Mark  1 1 :24— 52. 

Mark   I  I  :24,  R.  V.— 64. 

Ephesians  6:10 — 150. 

Philippians  4:8—150. 

Psalm  37:4—64. 

"Chemicalization"    Illustrated    and    Explained — 70,     71, 

72.  73. 
Christ,  the  Way— 162. 

Christ  Within  Makes  no  Mistakes — 143,  144. 
Classes,  Two,  Seeking  Deliverance — 15,   16. 
Comforter.  Work  of — 82,  83. 
Conditions  Destroyed  TTirough  Denial — 35. 
Conscious  Mind,  Control  of — 24,  25. 


Creator,  the.  Assures  Us  of  Deliverance — 150.  151. 

"Cures."  How  Effected— 81.  82. 

Death  Is  Stagnation — 25.  92. 

Deliverance.  Two  Classes  Seeking — 15.  16. 

Demand  Precedes  Appearance  of  Supply — 60.  61. 

Denial  of  Good  Destroys  Your  Power — 40 

Denial  of  Troublesome  Conditions  Gives  Freedom — 32. 

Denial.  Place  of.  in  Religious  Systems — 28. 

Denial.  Taught  by  Jesus — 31. 

Denial  Wipes  Mistaken  Beliefs  from  Mind — 34.  35. 

Denials  Bring  Freedom  from  Bondage — 40. 

Denials  Destroy  Conditions — 35. 

Denials,  to  Whom  Particularly  Useful — 52. 

Denials  Should  Be  Spoken  Silently  and  Audibly — 41. 

Denials  Specified  for  Daily  and  Hourly  Use — 38. 

Denials  and  Affirmations  Compared  in  Effect — 5 1 ,  52. 

Denials  and  Affirmations  Combined — 52. 

Denials  and  Affirmations.  Practice  of.  Gives  Mastery — 53. 

Deny  Appearances — 36. 

Deny  Dread  of  Meeting  Others — 39.  40. 

Deny,  Meaning  and  Application  of — 32,  33.  34. 

Deny*  Power  of  Others  to  Make  You  Unhappy — 39. 

Deny  Yourself — 31. 

Divine  Mind,  the  Real  Mind — 15. 

Doing  Is  Secondary  to  Being — 157. 

Desire  Defined  and  Explained — 62.  63.  64. 

Desire.  Spirit's,  in  Us — 12. 

Desire.  Spirit  the  Fulfillment  of — 44. 

Desires.  Our.  Are  God's— 1  18.  119. 

Education.  True — 7,  8. 

Effects  of  Thinking — 20,  21,22. 

Emerson,  Quoted  on  Understanding — 84.  85 ;  m  Connectioa 

with  Our  Divine  Inheritance — 154. 
"Enduement  of  Power"— 103,  104,  1 10. 


IT 


INDEX 


Enjoyment,  Where  Sought — 29;  Where  Found — 30,  31. 
Error  Consciousness  Defined — 15. 
Error  Thoughts.  Four,  to  Be  Denied — 36,  37,  38. 
Equilibrium  Between  Inflow  and  Outflow — 104,   105. 
Expectation  Necessary  to  Receiving — 122. 
Elxtemal,  the.  Disappoints — 12. 
External.  TTiought  in  Relation  to — 23,  24. 
Failure.  Seeming,  Means  Mighty  Success — 130,  131,  132. 
Faith.  Action  of — 55. 
Faith,  Compared  and  Explained — 57^  58. 
Faith.  Defined — 55. 

Faith,  General  Thought  Concerning — 54. 
Faith,  Power  of — 56. 

Faith.  Questioning  Our  Ability  to  Use — 56.  57. 
Faith.  Simple.  Greater  than  Intellectual  Strength — 20. 
Faith.  Understanding.  Based  on  Principle — 60,  61. 
Fall  of  Man  Explained — 15. 
False  Mind,  Jealousy  Is  in  the — 39. 
Father.  Access  to — 12. 
Father.  Our,  Defined— 10.   11. 
Father.  Our.  Desires  to  Give — 125.  126. 
Father,  the.  Lives  at  Center  of  All  Lives- 
Father-Mother.  God— I  1.  12.  26. 
Forgiveness.  Law  of — 159,  160. 
"Fullness  of  Time"   for  Claiming  Inheritance 


142.  143. 


155. 
Gift,  Your  Own  Specific.  Revealed — 134,  135. 
Gifts.  Desired.  Are  to  Be  Taken — 85.  86. 
God.  All-Good— 12.  60. 

God.  Always  Trying  to  Pour  Himself  into  Visibility — 26. 
God.  Appellations  of— 6.  7.  8,  9,  1  3,  60. 
God  as  Cold  Principle  Will  Not  Suffice— 148. 
God  as  Principle  and  God  as  Father — 145,  146,  147. 
God-Being,  Our.  Never  Changes — 36. 
God,  Both  Principle  and  Person —  1 1 . 


INDEX 


God,  but  One  in  Universe — 7. 

God.  Changeless— 26. 

God.  Creative  Cause  Livmg  Withm— 9,   I U. 

God.  Father-Mother— 1 1.  12.  26. 

God  Informs  Us  of  Supply— 62.  63. 

God  /s— 10. 

God.  Manifest  Good— 36. 

God.  Motives  in  Seekmg— 124.   IZ5. 

God  Not  a  Stem  Autocrat— 151.   nz. 

God.  Our  Salvation  in  All  Experiences— I  :>Z. 

God.  Revelation  of.  Process  in  Silence— tt:J. 

God  Seeks  Us— 109.  ,,    ,,     o  An 

God.  Source  of  Happiness.  Health.  Power— 40. 

God.  Sum  Total  of  AH  Good— 60. 

God,  Supreme  Over  Adversity— 1 6U.   lb  I. 

••God,  Wait  Thou  Upon"--!  23. 

God,  Wait  Upon.  Without  Fear— 129.  130. 

God  Wants  Us  to  Have  the  9°?^T^^'  ^^' 

God  Works  in  Stillness— no    11. 

God  Would  Manifest  through  Us— 5U. 

God's  Child.  Every  Living  Person  Is— 3tt. 

God's  Giving  Likened  to  Sun  »  ^^^^^^^^^-^^^^^^^      i  34 

Good,  the.  Manifests  through  Holdmg  It  as  ^"T"'^^- 

Good  Substance,  the  Supply  of  Every  Demand— 60. 

Great  Master-Mind  and  Master-Artist— 1  36 

Growth  Comes  through  Using  Our  Gifts— VZ. 

Growth.  We  Are  ''^^^'^^l'' ^}—f^\j.    ,97 
Healing  Is  "a  Branch  of  the  Vine  —126,  U/. 
Heirs,  or  Servants?— 153.  154 
"I  Am'*  Working  in  Us— 105.  106.  107. 
-I.iflBeLiftedUp  — 143 

I.  the  Central,  Unchanging,  Is  ^P»"t— I  ^. 
Individuality.  How  Cultivated— 74.  y3. 


VI 


INDEX 


Indwelling  God,  Consciousness  of.  Satisfies  the  Soul — 94, 

95. 
Indwelling  One  Lifu  up  His  Children — 147,  148. 
Inheritance,  Claiming  Our — 154. 

Infinite,  the.  Cannot  Be  Measured  by  the  Intellect — 16,  17. 
Intellect  and  Spirit  Compared — 19,  20. 
Intellect  Defined — 14. 
Intellect,  Servant  to  the  Real  Mind — 19. 
Intuition  and  Intellect  Meant  to  Travel  Together — 97,  98. 
Intuition  Defined — 57.  58. 

Importance  of  Right  Thinking— 20.  21,  22,  23,  24. 
Jealousy  Is  in  the  False  Mind — 39. 
Jesus.  His  Teaching  of  Denial — 31. 
Jesus.  His  Teachings  Lead  Men  to  the  Father — 82. 
Jesus  Received  and  Gave — 121. 
Jesus,  Quoted — 10.   II. 
Jesus.  Quoted  on  Affirmations — 52. 
Jesus,  Quoted  on  Understanding — 8 1 . 
Jesus.  Quoted.  Our  Dependence  on  the  Christ — 133,  134. 
Kingdom  of  God.  Seek  First — 87. 
Knowledge  of  God  Key  to  All  Power — 99. 
Lesser,  the.  Let  Go  to  Grasp  the  Whole — 127,  128. 
Life.  Spiritual.  Ways  of  Entering — 41.  42. 
Limitless  One.  the.  Should  Not  be  Limited — 126. 
Lord.  Seek  Your  Own— 92.  93. 
"Lord  Thy  God  in  the  Midst  of  Thee"— 122.  123. 
Lord's.  Your.  Business  Is  to  Care  for  You — 148,  149. 
Law  of  Demand  and  Supply — 43,  44. 
Law  of  Receiving — 64,  65.  66. 
Laws.  Mental  and  Spiritual.  Are  Unfailing — 59,  60. 
Man  Exists — 10. 
Man,  Expression  of  God — 9. 
Man  Not  Separate  from  God — 144,  145. 
Man.  Spirit.  Soul,  Body — 10.  14. 


INDEX 


VM 


Manifestations.  All  Things  Are.  of  the  One  Spirit— 8,  9, 

Meditation.'  the' Purpose  and  Method  of— 157,  158. 

Meekness  Explained — 159. 

Mind,  but  One.  in  the  Universe — 1 3,  14. 

Mind.  Mortal.  Carnal.  Defined — 10. 

Mind.  Necessity  of  an  Open — 5. 

Mind,  the  Real.  Is  Divine  Mind— 15.  ,-,,    ,^7 

Mind,  the  Human.  Unable  to  See  All  of  God— 1 36.  1 37. 

Minds.  Untrained — 11. 

"Mortal  Mind"— 14,  15. 

Motherhood  of  God—  1 48. 

Name.  Revelation  Through — 101,  lUZ. 

Nazarene — 29.  30.  .  -  -  ^ 

Nazarene.  Methods  of.  for  Spiritual  ^^"7^— ^^•^..    , 

Nazarene.  Most  Complete  Mamfestation  of  the  One  Mind 

Nothing  Can'Come  between  You  and  Your  Good— 41. 
Personality  Limits — "•.  .,    ,.    „     -^    -.    7c 
-Personality-  and  "Individually  -73,  74    75 
Personality,  to  Overcome  Shrinking  from — /o.  //.  /o,  /7. 
Place  of  Power,  How  to  Attam— 44 
Practice  the  Presence,  Every  Soul  Mmt— I5b. 
Prayer  of  Solomon;  Its  Reward — 86.  tt/. 
Prayer,  Purpose  of— 158,  159. 
Presence,  the  Beautiful.  Is  Substance — 4D. 

Principle  Always  W^^k^,^^'     ,       , , 

Principle  and  Person.  God  Is  both —  I  I . 

Promise  Defined — 61. 

Promises  of  God  Are  Truths— 61. 

Recapitulation,  First  Lesson — 13. 

Recapitulation.  Second  Lesson— 27. 

Receiving  and  Asking— 61,  62. 

Relation,  Our,  to  God  Ukened  to  a  Fountain— IZ.  L%  ^3- 


VIU 


INDEX 


INDEX 


IX 


•  « 


•  • 


•  4 


Revelation  of  God  a  Process  in  the  Silence— 83. 
Revelation,  How  It  Comes — 102,  103. 
Revelation  through  the  Name — 101,  102. 
Schisms  Should  Not  Exist— 137,  138. 
Schools  of  Healing  Distinguished — 138,   139. 
Scriptural  Terms  Preferred — 94. 
Search  for  Truth,  What  It  Must  Be— 155,  156. 

Secret  Place*'  Explained  and  Defined— 96,  97,  98,  99. 

Secret  Place"  Protects  from  Dangers  and  Fears — ^95,  96. 

Secret  Place,"  Steps  to — 108. 
Seek  Spirit  More  and  Results  Less — 133. 
Self,  Real  and  Mortal,  Distinguished — 31. 
Sermon  on  the  Mount — 67. 
Servants,  or  Heirs? — 153,  154. 
Signs  and  Wonders,  Do  Not  Look  for — 1 1 7. 
Silence,  Abnormal — 1  14,  115. 
Silence,  Affirmations  in — I  19. 
Silence,  an  Active  Passivity — 1 18. 
Silence,  Changes  Worked  by — 1 19,  120. 
Silence,  How  Practiced— 11 1.  112,  113,  114. 
Silence,  Method  of  Entering — 116,  117. 
Silence,  Results  of — 120.   121. 
Soul  Craving,  How  Satisfied — ^94,  95. 
Soul,  Defined — 14. 

Soul  Deals  Directly  with  God— 99,  1 00. 
Soul,  Each,  a  Radiating  Center — 144. 
Soul,  Each,  Must  Stand  Alone  with  God— 152,  153. 
Soul,  Every,  Must  Practice  the  Presence — 156,  157. 
Soul,  Temple  of  the  Most  High — 83. 
Source,  but  One,  of  Being — 12. 
Spirit  and  Intellect  Compared — 19,  20. 
Spirit  Defined — 6. 
Spirit,  Fulfillment  of  Desires — 44. 
Spirit  in  Each,  the  Same — 141,  142. 


131.  132. 
-115,  116. 


140,  141. 


Spirit,  Its  Desire  in  ^s— 12. 

Spirit  of  Truth-18;  Where  Found-18.  19. 

Spirit  of  Truth  Utent  in  Each— 5. 

Spirit,  the  Central,  Unchanging  /—1 4. 

Spirit,  There  Is  One- 1 34 

Spiritual  Gifts,  Why  Sought— 43,  44^ 

Sniritual  Laws,  Infallible,  Immutab  e— 4^. 

Sal  Things  Not  Known  through  Intellect- 16.  17. 

Sal  Understanding,  How  Reached-18. 

Substance  Defined— 8. 

Success  through  Seeming  Failure— l^U, 
Suffering  Is  a  Result  of  Bondage- 13  U. 
Stagnation  Is  Death— ^5,  V^- 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  Let  It  Draw  Us- 
Supply.  God  Informs  Us  of-62^3. 
Systems,  Religious,  Teach  Demals-m 
Teachings  of  Spirit,  Intrinsically  the  Same- 
Terms  Confusing— 68.  ,       ..j 
Thanksgiving  Carries  ^5 '".^^J  ^aidi-l  I  /. 
Thinking,  Importance  o    Rig^^JO,  2L  ZA 
"Thought  Transference    Expla  ned— bO.  OV. 
••lioulht  Transference.';Caution  for  Usmg-69,  70. 
Thoughte  in  Relation  to  External— Z:).  ^^' 
Transition  Periods  Not  to  Be  Ff^^^^-JJ^ 
Truth  Intellectually  Perceived  of  no  Practical  benetit— o 
Truth  Its  Own  Witness— 19. 
Truth,  One  and  the  Same— 139,   l^u. 
Truth  Should  Be  Simply  Expressed_67. 
Truth,  Spirit  of  Latent  »n  Each-8. 
Truth,  Spirit  of,  mere  F<>;i?,^^/'9^o^  9  ^ 


INDEX 


Understanding,  Spiritual,  Sought  by  All— 90,  91. 

Understanding.  Spiritual,  Way  of  Attaining — 88,  89. 

Unity  of  Things  Illustrated — 58,  59. 

Universe,  but  One  God  ioi — 7. 

Universe,  but  One  Mind  in — 13. 

Universal  Mind  Makes  no  Mistakes — 19. 

Victory  in  the  Silence  of  the  Soul — 161,  162. 

Want,  What  You  and  I— 100.  101. 

We  Are  in  Process  of  Growth — 23. 

We  Are  Not  Automatons — 22. 

We  Must  Seek  at  the  Source— 109,  1 10. 

We  Want  God— 110. 

Word  of  Faith,  Power  in — 45. 

Word  of  the  Lord  to  Moses — 150. 

Work,  Our  Own,  Let  Us  not  Desert — 1  35. 

Worship,  Spirit  of.  Same  in  All — 141,   142. 


'i 


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